Ministry of the Environment's 2003 National Survey Reveals Quiet Desertion--The Intersection of Home Appliance Recycling and Illegal Dumping (February 2004)

Ministry of the Environment's 2003 National Survey Reveals Quiet Desertion--The Intersection of Home Appliance Recycling and Illegal Dumping (February 2004)

In 2004, Japanese society was quietly steering toward a "recycling-oriented society." The Home Appliance Recycling Law, enacted in 2001, introduced a system whereby the manufacturer is responsible for collecting and recycling four types of home appliances (TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners) at the expense of the consumers. This system was Japan's first full-scale attempt at Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which aims to put an end to the culture of disposable products.

However, it took time and lacked understanding for the concept of the EPR system to take root. According to a nationwide survey conducted by the Ministry of the Environment in 2003, 9,295 air conditioners and 42,065 TV sets were illegally dumped. They were quietly piled up in the shadows of hidden mountains, forests, riverbeds, and farm roads, weathering in nature and eventually eroding the environment itself.

Behind the illegal dumping was a sense of resistance to the cost of recycling. The irony that "it is more expensive to throw it away" became reality when it costs 3,000 to 5,000 yen to dispose of it. Furthermore, the opaqueness of the collection route and the cumbersome recycling ticket system caused general consumers to turn away from the recycling system. Thus, the concept of resource recycling became buried in the hassles of everyday life.

There were also cases of improper processing by malicious companies. There was a string of cases in which home appliance dealers and moving companies were contracted to collect recyclables, but were not allowed to go through formal disposal channels and were forced into the black market. The reality that refrigerators and CRTs were abandoned in the mountains as if bypassing the gaps in the system was also proof that the principles of the law were not reaching the frontlines.

In response to this situation, the Ministry of the Environment has been strengthening its monitoring system, cooperating with local governments, auditing collection companies, and expanding awareness-raising activities. Discussions were also underway to strengthen the system, such as clarifying the obligation to provide explanations at the time of sale and the responsibility of the manufacturer to collect the product.

However, the problem of "invisible dumping" was not simply a systemic issue. It is a deep contradiction of the "quick, cheap, and easy disposal society," and it is the very "ethics of how to let go" that each and every one of us bears. It is about imagining what kind of landscape lies beyond the products that have completed their usefulness. The memories of TVs and refrigerators lying in silence speak to us quietly.