Recycling of Small Domestic Appliances

Nakamura Takashi

doi:10.3985/mcwmr.20.70

The present status of mineral resources and recycling of small domestic appliances (SDA) is discussed in this review. Prices for mineral resources had seen a dramatic increase until the global economy was hit with the recent financial crash. The reasons for such price increase were : 1) the strong demands of BRIC countries ; and 2) the birth of giant mineral companies like BHP Billiton. Since Japan has almost no mineral resources, except CaCO₃, the recycling of metals is seen as a countermeasure that can be taken against the issue of resource availability. Artificial ore deposit design has become a significant concept in moving toward progress in rare-metal recycling from e-scrap<br>We have proposed a new concept for SDA recycling, called RtoS, which is based on the paper, Urban Mine, New Resources for the Year 2000 and Beyond, by Professor Nanjyo, who had been working at the Institute of Mineral Dressing and Metallurgical Processes, Tohoku University.<br>A comprehensive examination of the metal content of Japanese WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) was carried out, and based on presumptions made from the quantity of products, etc., the concept of RtoS was realized in Odate City in 2006. Currently, most of the metals found within WEEE are disposed of, and become an unrecoverable resource in landfill sites. The new concept was developed based on calculations showing the annual amount of Japanese WEEE to be 19.4kg/person ; a quantity closely equivalent to the discharge total for all EU countries (approximately 20kg/person). Moreover, it was surprising to find that the four home electronics items which must already be recycled by law in Japan made up for 30% of WEEE weight.<br>If a recovery system is not put into practice, it will lead to the dissipation of rare metals throughout the country in the future. In the case of WEEE, however, when Cu, Au, and Ag are collected for recycling, rare metals can also be gathered along with them. If rare metals are separated from WEEE using the proper techniques and accumulated for storage, they can then be considered resources. A possible scenario for rare metal recycling is also shown. This could have its own self-supporting economic system if a collection system is devised and the recycling system is changed according to commercial transactions.

Recycling of Small Domestic Appliances

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