44
3.2.1 Legal Institutions Overseeing Electronic-Waste
Management in Japan
Two basic laws that oversee environmental management policies in Japan were put
forward in 1994 and 1998, respectively. We briefly discuss these laws below.
– 1994: Law for the Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources. This law was
subsequently enacted in May 2000 and was put into force in April 2001.
This law aims at establishing a sound material-cycle economic system by:
(i) Enhancing measures for recycling goods and resources by implementing the
collection and recycling of used products by business entities
(ii) Reducing waste generation by promoting resource saving and ensuring longer
life of products
(iii) Newly implementing measures for reusing parts recovered from collected used
products and at the same time as measures to address the reduction of industrial wastes by accelerating the reduction of by-products and recycle
This is an epoch-making law which requires to reduce, reuse, and recycle (typically termed as “3Rs”) as part of measures; covers from upstream part, including
product design; and measures against industrial wastes through downstream part
such as collection and recycling of used products.
4
– 1998, 2001: Home Appliance Recycling Act became a law in June 1998, but it
became operational much later in 2001.
The primary objective of this Home Appliance Recycling Act is to operationalize
its policy contents. It states that “This legislation shall have the objective of contributing to the maintenance of the living environment and the healthy development of
the national economy, by taking steps to secure the environmentally sound disposal
of waste and effective utilization of resources through the introduction of measures
for proper and smooth collection, transportation, and recycling of specific household appliance waste by retail traders or manufacturers of specific household appliances, with the aim of achieving a reduction in the volume of general waste and
sufficient utilization of recycled resources.”
More specifically, for achieving this objective, this Act is designed to solve the
following problems:
(i) Environmentally sound disposal of wastes (hazardous wastes) waste electrical
and electronic equipment that is disposed of as bulky waste contains hazardous
materials and pollutants. These include chlorofluorocarbons as both greenhouse
gas and ozone-depleting substance, oil in motors and compressors, and heavy
metals used in making printed circuit boards. Illegal dumping of such products
poses even greater environmental risks. Thus, a system to manage waste
electrical and electronic equipment in an environmentally sound manner was
4 See Japanese Ministry of Justice (2017) and Japanese Ministry of Environemnt (2001).
H. Hayami and M. Nakamura
3.2.1 Legal Institutions Overseeing Electronic-Waste
Management in Japan
Two basic laws that oversee environmental management policies in Japan were put
forward in 1994 and 1998, respectively. We briefly discuss these laws below.
– 1994: Law for the Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources. This law was
subsequently enacted in May 2000 and was put into force in April 2001.
This law aims at establishing a sound material-cycle economic system by:
(i) Enhancing measures for recycling goods and resources by implementing the
collection and recycling of used products by business entities
(ii) Reducing waste generation by promoting resource saving and ensuring longer
life of products
(iii) Newly implementing measures for reusing parts recovered from collected used
products and at the same time as measures to address the reduction of industrial wastes by accelerating the reduction of by-products and recycle
This is an epoch-making law which requires to reduce, reuse, and recycle (typically termed as “3Rs”) as part of measures; covers from upstream part, including
product design; and measures against industrial wastes through downstream part
such as collection and recycling of used products.
4
– 1998, 2001: Home Appliance Recycling Act became a law in June 1998, but it
became operational much later in 2001.
The primary objective of this Home Appliance Recycling Act is to operationalize
its policy contents. It states that “This legislation shall have the objective of contributing to the maintenance of the living environment and the healthy development of
the national economy, by taking steps to secure the environmentally sound disposal
of waste and effective utilization of resources through the introduction of measures
for proper and smooth collection, transportation, and recycling of specific household appliance waste by retail traders or manufacturers of specific household appliances, with the aim of achieving a reduction in the volume of general waste and
sufficient utilization of recycled resources.”
More specifically, for achieving this objective, this Act is designed to solve the
following problems:
(i) Environmentally sound disposal of wastes (hazardous wastes) waste electrical
and electronic equipment that is disposed of as bulky waste contains hazardous
materials and pollutants. These include chlorofluorocarbons as both greenhouse
gas and ozone-depleting substance, oil in motors and compressors, and heavy
metals used in making printed circuit boards. Illegal dumping of such products
poses even greater environmental risks. Thus, a system to manage waste
electrical and electronic equipment in an environmentally sound manner was
4 See Japanese Ministry of Justice (2017) and Japanese Ministry of Environemnt (2001).
H. Hayami and M. Nakamura