Recycling Industry

In the town of Yashiro, 27km outside of Osaka, Japan, washing machines, air conditioning units, television sets and refrigerators hum along conveyor belts, each having reached the end of its life cycle, and is about to be disassembled, shredded and, sometimes, pulverized. Machines capture noxious gases that comprise cooling refrigerants. Resins including polypropylene and polystyrene are recovered thanks to technology that can quickly sort and separate various types of plastics. New developments will improve the capture of rare earth metals from high end electronics.
This is the PETEC (Panasonic Eco Technology Centre) complex, a clean, ultra-modern and relatively quiet facility. 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 aluminum, copper and steel.
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 pay a recycling fee when they drop off their used appliances at either a retail outlet or collection center. 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. 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.
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. UK Guardian has a good story on PETEC.

In the U.S. the typical life of most major home appliances is 10 to 18 years. We have local and state programs for recycling appliances but nothing like Japan’s. We probably should, given that major home appliances are made up of approximately 75 percent steel. About 10 percent of the steel processed by the recycling industry comes from large appliances. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that the use of scrap instead of virgin materials to make new steel results in a 97 percent reduction in mining wastes, 90 percent savings in virgin materials use, 86 percent reduction in air pollution, 76 percent reduction in water pollution, 74 percent savings in energy, and 40 percent reduction in water use. The remaining materials in appliances include metals such as aluminum, zinc and copper, as well as recyclable plastics and CFC refrigerants.
More interesting, though, is the U.S. scrap metal industry. According to a 2011 study by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), the U.S. scrap recycling industry is not only a thriving economic engine, but also a pivotal player in environmental protection, resource conservation and sustainability. The industry recycled more than 130 million metric tons of materials in 2010, transforming outdated or obsolete scrap into useful raw materials needed to produce a range of new products.
In addition to being an environmental steward, the study confirmed that the U.S. scrap recycling industry plays a prominent role as an economic leader, job creator and major exporter. Specifically, the study found that the people and firms that purchase, process and broker old materials to be manufactured into new products in America provide 459,140 adults with good jobs in the United States and generate more than $90 billion annually in economic activity.
The export market is also a huge economic driver. In fact, were it not for the export markets, many materials, including post‐consumer paper and electronics would probably not be recycled at all simply because there is no demand for them in the United States. By opening up new markets, the nation’s recycled materials producers create demand for materials that might otherwise end up in landfills.
In the case of electronic products, for example, there simply is not enough demand in the United States for the more expensive post-consumer materials including gold and titanium that may be smelted out of circuit boards, capacitors and other electronic parts. On the other hand, countries like India, where demand for gold is particularly high, see value in these materials. The scrap industry is the first link in the global supply chain for the growing demand of all manner of commodities ranging from iron and steel to paper; nonferrous metals such as aluminum, copper, and zinc; plastics; electronics; rubber; and more. The result is economic and environmental sustainability for the U.S. and theworld through the supply of high quality, environmentally friendly and energy saving raw materials to the global marketplace.
In 2010, the industry exported nearly $30 billion in commodity grade scrap products to more than 155 countries, significantly helping the U.S. balance of trade.