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© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
A. Khan et al. (eds.), E-waste Recycling and Management,
Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World 33,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14184-4_3
Chapter 3
An Economic Assessment of Present
and Future Electronic-Waste Streams:
Japan’s Experience
Hitoshi Hayami and Masao Nakamura
Contents
3.1 Introduction
40
3.2 Electronic-Waste Management in Japan
43
3.2.1 Legal Institutions Overseeing Electronic-Waste Management in Japan
44
3.2.2 Overview of Electronic-Waste Recycling
45
3.2.3 Costs of Electronic-Waste Recycling
46
3.3 Life Cycle Policy Analysis Using Input-Output (I-O) Tables: Recycling
of Mobile Phones and Personal Computers and Their Supply Chains in Japan
48
3.3.1 Supply Chain Implications of Recycling End Products: Reductions
of the Resources Used in Upstream Suppliers
52
3.3.2 Reductions in Emissions of Greenhouse Gases from Recycling
Electronic-Waste
55
3.3.3 Issues of Who Bears the Burden of the Costs of Electronic-Waste
Recycling
58
3.4 Concluding Remarks
60
References
61
Abstract In this chapter, we discuss some of the most important factors, including
legal, statistical, economic, and organizational factors, that affect the recycling of
waste electrical and electronic equipment or more broadly the recycling of general
Electronic-waste in Japan and other countries. In doing so, we emphasize the policy
importance of incorporating manufacturing supply chains in the design of environmental management of production systems.
The research reported here is in part supported by the Keio Gijuku Academic Development Funds
and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
H. Hayami
Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
M. Nakamura (*)
Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Graduate School of Business and Commerce, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: masao.nakamura@sauder.ubc.ca