Recycling of household personal computers in Japan

摘要

In May 2002, under the Law for the Promotion of Effective Resource Utilization, a recycling framework for used household personal computers (home PCs) was issued by the Industrial Structure Council, etc, while the recycling of PCs discarded by businesses has been in operation since April 2001. A recycling system that is geared to handle discarded home PCs will be implemented in October 2003. Although waste home PCs have not been difficult for the municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment system to handle, and their amount has not been very large, manufacturers are planning to set up a take-back and recycle to handle their own PCs. This is meant to take into consideration the fact that the amount of discarded home PCs is on the increase, and also because there are certain social benefits that come from recycling such as a lower manufacturers' recycling cost compared to the MSW treatment system which involves little recycling, effective resource utilization, and saving landfill space. Due to certain differences between home electric appliances and PCs, home delivery will be one of collection routes for discarded home PCs in addition to collection sites. Generally retailer do not deliver new PCs, and a consumer tends to discard the used PC weeks or months after replacing it. A PC recycling fee for units sold before the October 2003 will be paid by the consumer who discards a used PC, while that for new PCs sold after October 2003 will be included in its retail price. Voluntary efforts for collection and recycling by manufacturers and collaboration by distributors, municipalities and consumers will be indispensable to the success of this system.