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Implementation Status of Recycling under the Act on Promotion of Recycling of Small Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (FY2020 Results)

August 23, 2022

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) publish the amount of small waste electrical and electronic equipment (small home appliances) collected by local municipalities and authorized businesses under the Act on Promotion of Recycling of Small Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Small Home Appliance Recycling Law), and the amount of such waste that was recycled.
The total amount collected was102,489 tons in FY2020, which was 4% higher than in FY2019.This marked the highest figure since the Act originally came into effect. The amount of metal recycled from the collected small home appliances was 52,222 tons.

1. Outline of the Small Home Appliance Recycling Law

The Small Home Appliance Recycling Law went into effect in April of 2013, and aims to recover rare and useful metals contained in small home appliances such as PCs, mobile phones, digital cameras, and game devices, and to promote their recycling.
Small appliances are collected by municipalities and businesses authorized by the METI and the MOE from appliance stores or when these stores deliver products, or through designated collection facilities. (See reference 1)

2. Results of small home appliance collection

In FY2020, municipalities and authorized businesses collected 102,498 tons (up by 4% from the previous year) of small home appliances. The breakdown is 61,646 tons by municipalities (up by 5% from the previous year) and 40,844 tons by authorized businesses (up by 2% from the previous year). (See reference 2)

3. Results of recycling by authorized businesses

In FY2020, authorized businesses collected 101,942 tons of small home appliances, of which 2,009 tons were reused. 99,933 tons (after excluding the reused amount) were processed by those authorized businesses. Of these, the amount of metal recycled was 52,222 tons (up by 10% from the previous year) and that of plastic recycled was 7,529 tons (up by 29% from the previous year). (See reference 3)

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Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy Division, Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau

 

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