The Silence of Rusting Home Appliances - Shadows and Ethics of a Recycling-Oriented Society (February 2004)

The Silence of Rusting Home Appliances - Shadows and Ethics of a Recycling-Oriented Society (February 2004)
In 2004, Japan was facing a disconnect between its vision of a recycling-oriented society and its reality: The Home Appliance Recycling Law, which went into effect in 2001, established a system whereby waste producers would pay for the disposal of televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners, and manufacturers would recycle these items. However, the system did not fully penetrate the market, and discarded home appliances were piled up in the mountains and along riverbeds. According to a 2003 nationwide survey by the Ministry of the Environment, 42065 televisions and 9295 air conditioners were illegally dumped. Behind this was the avoidance of disposal costs, unclear collection routes, and a complicated system. In addition, the number of home appliances falling through the cracks of the system increased due to the illegal disposal by some companies.

The Ministry of the Environment began monitoring, raising awareness, and reinforcing the system, but the fundamental question was the "ethics of how to let go. The question of how to handle the end of things is etched in the cold silence of discarded home appliances. At the time, the idea of a recycling-oriented society was still a word ahead of its time, and the coldness of the numbers and the scenes of illegal dumping depicted by newspaper reports highlighted the indifference of society and the immaturity of the system. The silence of discarded home appliances was a symbolic landscape reflecting the shadows lurking behind the scenes of our daily lives.