The Six-Fold Labyrinth of Waste Plastic - Recycling Economy Shaken by the Chinese Market (Late 1990s-early 2000s)

The Six-Fold Labyrinth of Waste Plastic - Recycling Economy Shaken by the Chinese Market (Late 1990s-early 2000s)

From the end of the 1990s to the early 2000s, amid the recession and deflation that followed the bursting of Japan's bubble economy, Japan adopted a recycling-oriented society and developed a system centered on the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law. However, domestic waste plastic processing was unprofitable due to high labor costs and capital investment. In contrast, the rapidly growing Chinese market, with its expanding manufacturing industry, strongly demanded recycled resources, and high-quality flakes and pellets were traded at several times the domestic price in Japan. This price difference created a hotbed of corruption, as the legitimate consignment route and the export route coexisted. In particular, the structure known as "six-layered pricing" became a problem: sorting costs, association consignment fees, amounts received by recyclers, export prices, domestic market prices, and final disposal costs were intertwined in a multilayered manner, and profit manipulat
ion using the difference between the two was rampant. In this way, the reversal phenomenon in which serious operators who adhere to the system are at a disadvantage and dishonest operators gain profits has taken root. Dependence on the Chinese market prevented the establishment of a domestic cycle, and the system oscillated between environmental protection and economic rationality. The waste plastic problem is not merely a waste disposal issue; it has become a mirror of the waves of the international economy and the laxity of domestic institutional design.