RI warned of toxic waste from Japan

Environmental groups have warned that Japan could "dispose waste" in Indonesia under an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) the countries signed last year.

"What we see in the agreement is they include lists of toxic waste that are considered goods or commodities. It will justify the influx of hazardous waste from Japan to Indonesia," Basel Action Network (BAN) director for the Asia Pacific region Richard Guitierrez told reporters during the Ninth Meeting of Parties to the Basel Convention here Thursday.

Among the hazardous wastes categorized as goods are residual products, sewage sludge, medical waste, waste from chemical or allied industries, vessels, incinerator ash and uranium enriched in U235.

"They also include other banned substances such as chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), oil-contaminated products and nuclear waste," Guitierrez said.

The EPA was signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and then Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2007, allowing for the reduction of tariff barriers for hundreds of goods from the two countries.