Aiming to enhance the recovery and recycling of used PC products (computers and peripherals) discarded by companies, IBM Japan Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. established a joint operation system on a nationwide scale in Japan and started a recycling service on November 18, 2002.

The two companies gather used PCs at 15 collection centers across the country, to separate and sort their main bodies and parts. These are then provided to businesses who have been contracted to do the intermediate recycling. Reusable parts are recycled at reuse centers.

The latest IT system that the two companies have jointly developed manages the whole process of recycling, including the steps of accepting orders, tracking, transporting, collecting, and handling manifests (industrial waste management forms). One of the features of this system is that each client can check the status of any particular PC on the Web.

With this new recovery system's completion and its official government designation as a general recycler of industrial waste, obtained on October 30, 2002, companies using the system for disposal no longer have the burden of handling the administrative work of manifests. This change releases those companies from the duty of annual reporting to prefectural governors to prove that their industrial waste has been handled properly.

Although the recovery of used PCs from households is not covered under the current Law for Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources (the Revised Recycling Law), which entered into force on April 1, 2001, it will be covered starting in October 2003. PC manufacturers and recyclers are now making further efforts to create systems for collecting and recycling used PCs.



Posted: 2003/01/21 04:20:23 AM
Japanese version

TAG Eco-product/Business , Manufacturing industry , Material reduction , System/Law