by Kenji Maruo

Last year, an estimated 1.9 million pcs were discarded in Japan. And with over 8.2 million new units shipped by domestic vendors in 1997, the number of older PCs being replaced with newer models will grow substantially during the next decade. The question, in this environmentally conscious era, is: Where do these old-model PCs go? Are they being sold as used equipment, disassembled so that their component materials can be recycled, or simply tossed into a landfill?

The answer is: All of the above. Most of Japan's major computer vendors have cooperative agreements with recycling and specialty disposal firms for handling their collected discards. The proportion of discarded computer equipment being recycled surpassed 50% (on a unit basis) in 1992, and by 1995 had reached 71%.

In fiscal year 1995 (April '95 through March '96), the latest year for which statistics are available, some 90,000 tons of discarded computer equipment -- PCs, workstations, mainframes, midrange computers, and printers -- was collected. Sales and rental/leasing firms accounted for the majority (about 74% ) of that volume, while computer vendors gathered the rest. Of the collected quantity, the Japan Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA) estimates that various materials (including ferrous and nonferrous metals, gold, silver, aluminum, glass, and plastics) comprising some 50,000 tons (56%) was recycled.

It is difficult to accurately estimate the amount of discarded computer equipment, because so many different methods of disposal exist, and because the lifespan of the various products differs. JEIDA bases its estimates primarily on leasing-term records and inquiries to corporate users, and uses a set equipment lifespan of seven years. (For Japanese income tax purposes, the depreciation term for computer equipment is six years.) JEIDA then calculates the weight of the discarded equipment by multiplying past shipment statistics by the average weight of each individual product type.

According to JEIDA's survey, in fiscal year 1995 Japan's 19 leading computer vendors collected some 20,000 tons of discarded equipment -- about double the quantity collected in FY1991. There was wide variation in collection efforts, however, with the six vendors having long experience in recycling metals and materials from mainframes -- including Fujitsu, Hitachi, IBM Japan, and NEC -- accounting for more than 90% of the total. These top six vendors reported recycling rates ranging from 65% to 85%.

A growing problem
JEIDA found that 97% of the 35 computer vendors who answered its survey consign the collection and transport of their discarded equipment to an affiliated transport company. Collection costs comprise 60% to 70% of the total recycling costs, so two-thirds of vendors levy a pick-up charge for equipment collection. Regarding actual disposal/recycling, about 30% of the vendors handle the task themselves while the other 70% depend on an affiliated or independent specialty disposal firm.

The JEIDA report emphasizes that disposal firms are becoming increasingly important as society struggles with the issue of properly disposing of discarded computer products. Since amounts are expected to grow in the near future, the association urges that the collection and disposal systems be reinforced to handle the increase, and that information about components and materials be made readily available.

The problem of collection is especially acute for home-use PCs. In FY1995, home-use (individual consumer) PCs and peripherals accounted for just 4% of total computer discards. But home-use PCs accounted for 32% of FY1996 shipments -- an estimated 52,0000 tons (over four times the weight of FY1991 home-use shipments) -- and the proportion of non-business PC discards will expand greatly by FY2003.

Unless integrated recycling efforts are implemented, local governments throughout Japan will have to bear the burden of collection and disposal. And that "will be too heavy a burden for local governments under the current system," says Koji Yokote of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Bureau of Waste Management, Waste Reduction Comprehensive Planning Office. "We have been requesting the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and Ministry of Health and Welfare, through the National Committee of Cities for Waste Management, to include personal computers as part of the [proposed] Household Appliances Recycling Law."

This Law would require manufacturers, importers, and sales companies to establish a method for collecting discarded household appliances -- TV sets, refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines are currently designated -- through appliances shops. Consumers would pay the transport and disposal charges. The Household Appliances Recycling Law is expected to be passed by the Japanese Diet this spring; if so, it would go into effect in spring 2001.

Government/industry cooperation
Local government cooperation is necessary for the efficient collection and transport of discarded home-use computers and peripherals. "Local governments have long experience in garbage collection and disposal," notes Hisanori Tatae, director for environmental issues in JEIDA's Information Industry Department. "It can be very difficult for vendors to correctly calculate the costs; it would be cheaper for local governments [to handle that role]. If the law requires vendors to take responsibility [for disposing of discarded computer equipment], local governments should play a proper role."

"We hope that local governments would at least establish and operate collection stockyards," Tatae entreats. "If local governments don't cooperate with the computer industry for collecting home use equipment, we vendors may have to establish a collection system by ourselves. But in major cities like Tokyo or Osaka, it would be very difficult for vendors to secure the land for such stockyards. And locating them in a neighboring prefecture, such as Saitama or Chiba, will add to vendors' cost of transport."

"Zero emission" recycling
NEC, one of Japan's three mainframe vendors and holder of the largest market share in the domestic PC market, has been involved in recycling used computer equipment since 1969. In a quest for "zero emissions," the company's Environmental Management Division in December 1996 established a Recycling Promotion Office, which is charged with the dual tasks of improving NEC's capacity to recycle used products and enhancing the company's ability to develop environmentally conscious products.

NEC currently consigns collection and disposal activities to its subsidiaries and affiliates. NEC Field Service accepts used computers and peripherals from corporate users and rental/leasing firms as one of its maintenance services. NEC Logistics then transports the used equipment to a collection facility in one of five major cities (Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka), from where it is taken to a recycling center in Yokohama, Shiga, or Yamaguchi prefectures.

At these centers (operated by Kowa, an NEC affiliate), the discarded equipment is disassembled and the components separated by hand. Toxic materials, such as lead from CRTs and printed circuit boards, cadmium from batteries, and mercury from notebook PC screens, are removed for proper disposal. Usable parts, such as memory chips and circuit boards, are sent to NEC group assembly plants and repair facilities for use in maintenance services. Scrap metal is sent to iron and steel manufacturers. Printed circuit boards and battery casings go to metal smelting works, and cables and cathode-ray tube deflectors to copper manufacturers. CRTs are sent to glass manufacturers, such as NEC Glass Works, and the unrecyclable materials go to waste disposal firms.

NEC and Kowa currently send recovered plastics, mainly from PC cases, to disposal firms. From June 1998, however, "Kowa will begin to operate its own melting incinerator for disposal of plastics and shredded materials," reports NEC's Chikako Miyashita. The advanced incinerator will produce slag for road-paving materials as well as generate electricity through its very high (1,200 degrees C) heat production.

This "thermal recycling" method for plastics will exhaust toxic gases containing dioxin, but at a very low density (less than 0.1 nanogram/cubic meter of exhausted air). According to a spokesman from NEC's Environmental Management Division, this satisfies even the world's strictest regulations (those of Germany) and is well below Japan's current 80 nanograms/cubic meter standards and the proposed 1 nanogram/cubic meter standard for new facilities.

For other materials, NEC and its affiliates are "promoting recycling methods that can repeatedly utilize materials. With thermal recycling, you can utilize the material one time only," explains Miyashita. In February 1998, NEC began using recycled (pelletized) plastics in its new PC models. However, "Recycled plastics alone are not strong enough; we can use only about 10% recycled plastic materials mixed with 90% virgin plastics," Miyashita admits. "This is a tradeoff we have to make to avoid sacrificing the strength and durability of our products."

Increased recycling efforts
Through its recycling efforts, in FY1997 NEC collected 6,850 tons of used mainframes, workstations, and PCs (up from 6,200 tons in the previous year). By disassembling this discarded equipment, reusing the viable components, and recycling other materials, NEC was able to achieve an 86% recycling rate. Miyashita says that the recycling rate "was 90% or more until 1992, but it has decreased to 85% to 87% since 1993 because of the spread of personal computers, which contain a lot of plastics." To boost the utilization of recycled materials, NEC has been tracking all materials used in its PCs since 1991, and those used in other products (including communications equipment) since 1994. This information facilitates separation and recycling of components from discarded equipment.

In October 1997, moreover, NEC launched a "Green Purchase" project through which it collects data about the ingredients (particularly toxic substances) used in the parts and raw materials it buys from some 210 suppliers. The company is using this information to build a database for its design and manufacturing divisions, and to advise suppliers about improved environmental management efforts. NEC expects to eventually extend this project to cover all of the over 60,000 suppliers with which it deals. Asked if these efforts to promote recycling will produce a profit for NEC, Miyashita declares simply, "We regard it as a corporate responsibility to society."

NEC is also making efforts at the design stage to manufacture products that are environmentally friendly and easy to recycle. As one example, it has replaced the PVC (polyvinyl chloride)-steel plates previously used for PC housings with olefin-steel plates, since PVC produces dioxin fumes when burnt.

JEIDA's Tatae endorses NEC's Green Purchase efforts, and stresses the importance of coordinated recycling efforts. "Computer vendors and material manufacturers must make public information about the materials and specifications of each machine," he says. "JEIDA will offer such information in 2000, but it is a complex undertaking since so many vendors and materials manufacturers will be involved."

NEC's Miyashita concurs. "The problem that confronts us today is that, with the proliferation of multivendor systems, the efforts of one company are limited. The industry as a whole must better grapple with the issue."

The used-equipment market
Not all discards are destined for disposal or recycling; there is an active secondhand market in used computer equipment. For example, Take Off Inc., a used-computer service company, handles 45,000 to 50,000 PCs and peripherals every year, including nearly 5,000 units sold annually at its shops in Tokyo and Osaka. According to the company's purchasing manager, Hiroshi Oda, some 40% of the collected units are disassembled in order to salvage such components as hard disks, RAM chips, and CPUs for repair, maintenance, and system extension services. The rest are sent to specialist disposal firms.

How good is the market for used computer equipment in Japan? "Secondhand equipment is good enough to control assembly lines in factories," says Oda. "Many of our customers are still using 486-based PCs because they cannot afford to invest in brand-new systems. And in some clerical sections, even 386-based machines are being used for database management, word processing, and spreadsheet applications, since the software and data files created for early versions of DOS are not usable on Windows. We support these customers by enabling them to extend or repair their outdated systems with used equipment and our know-how." The company handles not only PCs and servers (about 60% of its business, in value), but also workstations, midrange computers, and mainframes. These units are collected from leasing/rental firms, computer dealers, and general companies. According to Oda, equipment from leases canceled mid-term accounts for more than 50% of the total.

Is Take Off able to make a profit from the used-computer business? "We utilize our know-how to deal with equipment that can't be handled by others," Oda reports. "For example, workstations of Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric are profitable for us. But NEC's PC-9800 series personal computers are not, since every trader handles them."

"Usually, we repair computers by using viable parts from other machines," he continues. "For instance, the damaged hard disk of a PC or workstation can be replaced by one from a dedicated word processor. The hard disk of a used PC or workstation is generally in poorer condition, due to a history of more random seeks by the head for information, than that of a dedicated word processor. Reusing a word processor hard disk for a PC is one example of our know-how."

According to Oda, if the secondhand computer market could be extended, "self-employed people, or sections of companies, could easily purchase computer systems for new projects at one-tenth the cost of new equipment." And what is required to expand this market? "Manufacturers and used-equipment dealers must build cooperative relationships. Manufacturers should realize that supporting users of secondhand equipment [will expand the market by increasing] the number of those who can be expected to purchase a new system in the future. At the same," cautions Oda, "the number of secondhand dealers had better increase, or else the market cannot be expanded."

MITI launches recycling information trial
Officials within the Industrial Machinery Division of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) confirm that they are conducting experimental operation of a system to provide information about the recycling of PCs (as well as TV sets, refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines). As part of the experiment, being conducted this spring and summer, disposal firms, parts manufacturers, and vendors will be able to access hundreds of items of data about all products in the MITI database. The information includes how-to instructions regarding the disassembly of products, the shape and quality of parts, and the ingredients of the materials used (including toxic materials).

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