This view was reached by a group of UK experts who have recently visited the country on a fact finding mission into WEEE recycling. The delegates were taken by the Mini-Waste Faraday Partnership.
” It was quite obvious that the Japanese were prepared to spend the money that they felt needed to be spent, rather than trying to get it done as cheaply as possible “
– Phil Conran, Biffa
And the group found that the electronic recycling legislation in the country had been given a great deal of help thanks to close working between all of the sectors involved. This has meant that even if facilities were not particularly state-of-the-art it had achieved results that the UK would possibly not be able to repeat.
The report said: “None of the processes observed to recycle appliances was 'revolutionary' and could easily be applied in the UK. The key difference is that there is very close vertical integration between the legislators, consumers, manufacturers, recyclers and the supply chain logistics.”
It emerged that the producers were prepared to work towards making the reprocessing task easier once their products had reached end of life. Some electronic manufacturers put new products through recycling facilities in order to test how easy it is to brake them down.
High costs
The group also found that the industry was willing to pay for a system that works, rather than trying to get things done cheaply and less efficient.
Phil Conran, recycling manager at Biffa and one of the delegates that visited Japan, told letsrecycle.com: “It was quite obvious that the Japanese were prepared to spend the money that they felt needed to be spent, rather than trying to get it done as cheaply as possible.”
But Mr Conran warned that the system would only work as long as the public were prepared to pay for it. He added: “Although the system works well it is at a high cost, it has to be asked how long the Japanese public will be prepared to pay those prices.”
According to Mr Conran the Japanese system has been designed to obtain the “optimum benefits”, which has led to it being simplified into four areas – televisions, washing machines, fridges and air conditioners.
The Mini-Waste Faraday Partnership report added that with only a few appliances being legislated for in Japan it is clearly easier than the European WEEE Directive philosophy.
The mission team included representatives of large UK nationals and SMEs, waste collectors, logistic companies, eco-design companies, plastic recyclers and WEEE recyclers.
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