Japan's holistic approach to recycling

A leading model of waste recovery has achieved an 85% recycling rate and is starting to generate revenue
The PETEC complex in Yashiro, Japan is a leading example of resource recovery. Photograph: Leon Kaye

Japan's holistic approach to recycling


In the town of Yashiro, 27km outside of Osaka, washing machines, air conditioning units, television sets and refrigerators hum along conveyor belts with the precision that defines the Japanese term kaizen (continuous improvement). These appliances, however, are not on their way to delivery trucks and trains that will take them to retailers. Instead, each unit has reached the end of its life cycle and is about to be disassembled, shredded and even pulverised.

The PETEC (Panasonic Eco Technology Centre) complex is a clean, ultra modern and relatively quiet facility. It is also a leading example of resource recovery. Since 2001, over 1.4bn appliances have been recycled, producing enough materials to manufacture 95 jumbo jets, the equivalent of 81 of the Great Buddha statue at Nara and 158,000 cars from reclaimed aluminium, copper and steel. Machines capture noxious gases that comprise cooling refrigerants. New developments will improve the capture of rare earth metals from high end electronics. Resins including polypropylene and polystyrene are recovered thanks to technology that can quickly sort and separate various types of plastics.

Meanwhile, visitors can watch the entire process from walkways that soar above the shop floors. They can even view the death of old washing machines, thanks to hidden cameras that provide live coverage of them being plunked into a massive shredder that tears them to bits in a few seconds.

And PETEC always improves its recycling rates, in large part because product managers and engineers who design the appliances visit on a regular basis so they can pick apart the very products they design. The collaboration between professionals who create and then destroy their appliances helps to not only boost recycling rates, but to improve the products' functionality and quality as well. Some of the changes appear small but make a huge difference. For example, on a line of air conditioning units, product designers realised that if they laser printed the company logo instead of embedding and pasting a small tablet sized piece of plastic, the recycling rates of such components would increase dramatically.

Japan's Home Appliance Law, in effect for over 10 years, is in large part responsible for the innovation that facilities like PETEC have sparked. The law has forced the extensive implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) that has become common in Europe, but has found huge success and buy-in throughout Japan. The law places the burden and responsibility of recycling on everyone: consumers, retailers and manufacturers.

Consumers must pay a recycling fee when they drop off their used appliances at either a retail outlet or collection centre. They must also purchase a recycling ticket that proves to a collector that any recycling fees, which manufacturers themselves impose on products, have been paid. The fees vary by the type of appliance and brand, with the low end about £12 for smaller televisions and £20 for high end refrigerators. Recycling fees, which are supposed to cover the costs of collecting, transporting and recycling the appliances, are eventually transferred to the manufacturers. Retailers continue their roles as the middleman as they are tasked with collecting and distributing unwanted machines to the appropriate recycling facilities.

For Panasonic and its competitors, the results have not yet provided a total zero-waste or closed loop system. Nevertheless, PETEC boasts an overall 85% recycling rate and now even reaps modest revenues. The vast investment in PETEC has provided an approximate 10 percent return on investment, and the thriving research and development staff in Yashiro keeps churning out best practices that filter to Panasonic's 48 other recycling facilities.

With fears that declining supplies of natural resources will result in spiking commodities prices - not to mention the environmental degradation as companies drill more deeply and search even farther for precious resources - the 230 employees at PETEC are a leading example of how companies can improve their products and performance while generating new revenue streams.

Leon Kaye is founder and editor of GreenGoPost.com
