Under the Act on the Promotion of the Effective Utilization of Resources, which took effect in April 2001, pachinko machines were designated as “designated resource-conserving products” and “designated products for which reuse is promoted,” and a target material and parts recycling rate of 55% was set for fiscal year 2005. At that time, pachinko machines were composite products consisting of approximately 30% plastic, 30% iron, 25% wood, 2% non-ferrous metals, and 14% LCDs, circuit boards, and other components by weight. The standard practice was to remove reusable components—such as LCDs, circuit boards, and cables—and then shred the remainder to recover the iron, while using the combustible materials as RDF or cement fuel. At the Pacific Cement Kumagaya Plant, a system had been in operation since 1995 to process gaming machines, yielding approximately 12 kg of solid fuel per machine. It is estimated that in fiscal year 2000, 3.41 million units—approximately 44,000 metric tons—were discarded, and about 1.5 million units were recycled. Furthermore, with an annual secondhand market of approximately 700,000 units, multiple recycling pathways were established, including reuse, parts recycling, and material recovery. In 2002, plans were announced for a new plant in Kitakyushu with an annual processing capacity of 1.5 million units, and efforts began to convert wooden frames into wood chips and then back into new wooden frames. Since then, nationwide collection and processing systems have been established, and used gaming machines are now treated as resources—such as iron, plastic, wood, and electronic components—that are returned to society.
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