August 1999.

August 1999.
■ Japan's self-sufficiency in nonferrous metals has been declining year by year, and the self-sufficiency rate in FY1993 was 0.3%.
Given this heavy dependence on overseas ores and the fragility of procurement capabilities, as well as the tight conditions at waste disposal sites, the effective use of aboveground resources through recycling and other means is essential for sustainable economic activities.
The Recycle Mine Park (RMP) concept, proposed in 1993, aims to actively utilize the facilities, technology, and know-how of mines and refineries to promote recycling projects that thoroughly recycle, detoxify, and reduce the volume of waste, while at the same time supplying recovered energy to local communities.
This concept contributes to the recycling of metal resources and environmental conservation while maintaining harmony with the local community, and specific studies have been conducted since 1995.
Uguisuzawa Town in Miyagi Prefecture, a town that prospered from lead-zinc mines, was in decline and depopulated after the mines closed, but has been working on a project to develop tourist tunnels, utilizing the technology and historical assets accumulated as a mining town.
The town of Uguisuzawa is considering developing the RMP project as a base for revitalizing local industries and as a new tourism resource by opening the recycling facility to the public.
■About 1.2 million tons of shredder dust from waste home appliances and automobiles are generated annually and mostly disposed of in landfills, and both industries are stepping up efforts to reduce and recycle the volume of such waste.
According to estimates by the Japan Iron Recycling and Mining Industry Association, the average shredder dust contains 3% copper, 0.3% lead, and 0.5% zinc by weight, and simple calculations indicate that 36,000 tons of copper, 3,600 tons of lead, and 6,000 tons of zinc are disposed of annually.
In addition, the original landfill volume of home appliances (230,000 tons per year) contains 9.4% (58,000 tons) of copper, which can be recycled as a mineral resource to ensure a stable supply of resources.
Since most nonferrous metals have a lower melting point than iron, they can be recycled using less energy than smelting from ore, thus saving energy.
This is why the "Recycle Mine Bark (RMP) Initiative" launched by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) in 1995 is attracting attention.
This concept aims to recover and recycle metals from shredder dust and other metal-containing waste by using the remaining ore dressing, smelting, and mine drainage treatment facilities at closed mines.
The project is also attracting attention as a measure to comply with the Home Appliance Recycling Law to be enforced in April 2001, and local governments and non-ferrous metal manufacturers are taking the lead in promoting the project in various regions.
In the North Central region, where the RMP concept was approved for the first year, Kamioka Mining (Yoshiki-gun, Gifu Prefecture) and Nikko Mikkaichi Recycle (Kurobe City, Toyama Prefecture) are leading the way with their plans.
Kamioka Mining began recycling automobile batteries in 1994, the year before the certification, and currently processes 4,000 tons of batteries per month to recover and recycle lead, gold, silver, and plastics. In the future, the company will also consider the recovery and volume reduction of valuable metals from waste home appliances, waste OA equipment, and shredder dust.
Nikko Mikkaichi Recycle was established in November 1995 with Nikko Metals' Mikkaichi Smelter and Refinery as its parent company.
The company incinerates shredder dust and extracts distilled zinc from secondary zinc raw materials such as zinc slag using an electric furnace.
This smelting process is characterized by its ability to concentrate and recover not only distilled zinc but also copper and lead, and the recovered copper and lead tailings are transported to the Nikko Group's Saganoseki Smelter and Refinery (Saganoseki, Oita Prefecture) to be recycled as copper and lead ingots.
However, according to the economic evaluation of the shredder dust processing business conducted by Toyama Prefecture in FY98, the total revenue from contracted processing of shredder dust, waste plastic, and waste liquid, and from sales of silver and other bullion was 2,772,000 yen per month.
On the other hand, costs for incineration, smelting, and slag treatment totaled 31,747,000 yen, resulting in a loss of 4,035,000 yen.
The main reason is that metal recovery costs are more than twice as much as the revenue from bullion sales, and according to our calculations, processing more than twice the current level (800 tons/month) of shredder dust would make the business economically viable.
In June 1998, the Kitashika region of Akita Prefecture, a model region, established a "Recycle Mine Bark Promotion Council" consisting of the prefectural government, mining-related companies, and local governments.
The council has begun concrete efforts to commercialize the recycling of home appliances using the former mine sites of Hanaoka Mining (Odate City, Akita Prefecture) and Kosaka Smelter (Kosaka Town) of Hanaoka Mining, a Dowa Mining Company affiliate.
Under the plan, four items (TVs, refrigerators, humidifiers, and air conditioners) will be collected from three Tohoku prefectures (Akita, Aomori, and Iwate), crushed at Hanaoka Mining's ore dressing facility, and the copper and lead will be extracted using a flotation separator.
The materials are transported to the Kosaka Smelter and Refinery, where they are recycled into high-purity metals, and the incinerated ash generated in the process is utilized as roadbed material.
Kosaka Smelting has already commercialized the recovery of metals from electrical wire scraps and electronic substrates, as well as lead from waste batteries, and it is reported that the system can be implemented as soon as a collection system and minimum pre-processing facilities for waste home appliances are in place.
We plan to start demonstration tests in July 1999 and compile a report by March 2000 that includes work processes and costs.
The plant is scheduled to go into operation in time for the enforcement of the Home Appliance Recycling Law, and the business entity is Eco Recycle, established in July 1999 by Dowa Mining Co.
It is expected to generate employment for 50 to 60 people, mainly new hires from the local community.
The company plans to set up 18 temporary storage facilities, called satellites, to increase collection efficiency and secure approximately 132,000 units per year, or 30% of the four types of home appliances generated in the three prefectures for the time being.
In conjunction with this plan, the prefectural government is aiming for certification by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) as an eco-town project in fiscal 1999, and has proposed an eco-town concept for the northern part of the prefecture, with home appliance recycling, composting facilities, and solid fuel power generation as the pillars of the project.
Uguisuzawa Town in Miyagi Prefecture, which depopulated following the closure of the Hosokura Smelter and Refinery in 1987, has also been working on a refining business to extract lead from used batteries as a new industry, and has also started a study and investigation for home appliance recycling in FY97.
With recycling fees from consumers, the town can make a profit from processing JO million units per year.
The town is also aiming for certification as an Eco-Town, and has formulated a "Community Development Plan in Harmony with the Environment" that positions an open-type home appliance recycling plant to be built on the site of the former Hosokura Junior High School as the core facility.
A new company will be established by several home appliance manufacturers, led by Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, to process 300,000 units per year.
The town, which once experienced mining pollution, is focusing on the soft side based on industry-government-private sector partnership, aiming to have the effect of spreading the 1) cycle throughout the prefecture by opening its facilities and information to the public.
Currently, there are 46 mining and smelting facilities nationwide, most of which accept scrap and waste in the form of secondary raw materials.
With the implementation of the Home Appliance Recycling Law just around the corner, home appliance manufacturers are eager to build recycling plants, but there are limits to what individual companies can do.
RMPs can quickly build infrastructure with little investment by using existing mining facilities, and they can also help promote local industry, so future trends are of interest.
February 2001.
■ New businesses are attracting attention for their new value proposition of the environment.
The Recycle Mine Park (RMP) concept, which positions waste home appliances as "modern ore" and seeks to harmonize a stable supply of resources with the environment by utilizing the sites, facilities, and technologies of mines and refineries in various regions that are in severe decline, is about to get underway as a project with economic incentives.
"A fire has been lit on the mountain again.
We must not let this fire be extinguished," is the motivation behind the revitalization of the mining town.
A strong tailwind is now blowing in the mining town, which has been recycling nonferrous metals (15 types, including lead, copper, and zinc) contained in waste automobile batteries, shredder dust, and electrical wire scraps.
These developments, such as the recycling law covering the four home appliance categories and the planned recycling law for automobiles and electrical and electronic equipment other than the four home appliance categories, are providing a tailwind.
Various benefits are expected there, such as proper disposal of used products subject to recycling, resource recycling, effective use of incineration energy, and prevention of pollution by heavy metals.
The economic benefits are also significant, as existing facilities and mining technology can be used directly in the construction and operation of recycling plants, allowing for low-cost operation.
Another advantage is that, unlike the recycling plants of arterial manufacturers, we can develop our business based on an understanding of the characteristics of the region.
It is hoped that this site will be revived in the future as a nucleus for regional revitalization and the creation of employment.
It is attracting attention as a by-lot business that will help improve the potential of the region and support the industrial structure of a recycling-oriented society.