ABSTRACT
Intensified globalization of economic activities is resulting not only in a globalized product supply chain but also in a gradually internationalizing network of trade in waste and recyclable resources (raw materials that can be recovered from waste). The diversity of economic development in the world, including low-income areas with high population growth, resource demand-intensive areas with rapid development in the materials industry, and urban areas experiencing the influence of consumer culture, is a major driver of the trade in used electrical and electronic equipment. Two types of factor are behind this trade: a push factor contributing to the export and a pull factor from the importing countries. On the one hand, a large amount of waste, recyclable resources, and used products flows to developing countries owing to the high treatment costs in wealthy industrial countries (1, 2). On the other hand, demand for recyclable resources and consumer goods, including secondhand electrical and electronic equipment (SHEEE), is strong and growing in developing societies.
