ABSTRACT
Environmentally friendly technologies found within the industries at the forefront of the age of electronics and automobiles are destined to become one of the key facets of technology for the new era. Many of the products that have been created within these fields have contributed to the affluence of human life, but at the same time have carried substances with a very high environmental load stemming from energy consumption and the discharge of noxious substances into the environment. To counter these problems, the home appliance recycling law has been enforced in Japan since April 2001. This is not only limited to Japan, but also extends to many of European and Asian countries in 2003. Thus worldwide recycling of home electronics has just begun. It will, however, take some time to determine the effects produced from recycling. Unfortunately, there have already been reports in the news of an increase in illegal dumping, and concern has surfaced regarding the lack of arrangements in the social systems surrounding recycling. Besides the promotion of recycling of home appliances, a massive amount of discarded electrical appliances is accumulating every year within the narrow confines of these countries. Toxic heavy substances contained in the electrical appliances, i.e., lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, and cadmium, inhibit clean treatments of them in recycling and increase recycling cost. Although the removal of such toxic heavy substances from home electronics wastes is technologically possible, which is sometimes called “the end-pipe method,” it creates a lot of trouble in our social systems. Considering this situation, rather than only waiting for the establishment of recycling, we must create our own models right in this century.
