Japan is a place like no other on Earth. Tiny in area, it looms large in terms of both population and number of cars on the road. When taken together, these factors highlight how important the role of responsible and progressive auto recyclers is in Japan.

At the 2007 Automotive Recyclers International Meeting in Tokyo, I met with some of my Japanese counterparts to discuss how the model in Japan has changed in recent years. Probably the biggest change is the introduction of the Japanese Automobile Recycling Law (JARL).

Enacted in July 2001, this law has been enforced since the start of 2005. Under the law, a number of new and progressive initiatives were adopted. First, vehicle owners prepay recycling fees for the disposal of fluorocarbon, air bags and automobile shredder residue (ASR). These transactions are managed and recorded by the Japan Automobile Recycling Protection Center (JARC).

When the car reaches the End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) stage, those fees are refunded to automakers or importers, who are then responsible for the proper disposal of these items. By placing the burden of responsibility for what happens to the vehicle directly on the shoulders of the manufacturer, Japan hopes to stop the flow of salvage vehicles leaving the country.

Out of the roughly 5 million ELVs produced in Japan annually, about 1.5 million are exported as used cars, mostly to underdeveloped countries, where they can be sold for profit.

It’s hard to conceive of just how impressive the Japanese system really is, until you realize that its stated goal is to track 75 million cars and trucks over the entire lifetime of the vehicles. It requires enormous effort on the part of everyone involved.

Hirosuke Takeuchi is the President of Takeuchi Research Institute for Environment and Recycling, and the Vice President of the Japanese Automotive Recycling Association (JARA). He also served as a Senior Advisor to JARC during its formation.
 
“In this system the responsibility of dismantlers is the most important and today their efforts are highly evaluated and appreciated,” says Hirosuke. “From a viewpoint of the environment, it will be a big problem for exporting countries to disregard the ELVs that are neglected or thrown away without proper disposal.”
 
Hirosuke points out that, although the issues of what to do with ELVs must be handled by individual countries, it really is an issue with global implications.
 
INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATION
“The question is, what kind of remedy exists in German law to prepare for the bankruptcy of importers and car makers?” asks Hirosuke. “On this point I think the Japanese law is a little better than the German one, because at least the recy¬cling fees are kept for the disposal of each ELV that stays in Japan.”
Recycling fees collected totaled 754.1 billion yen in 2006. That’s about $6.8 billion CAD. No matter how you slice it, that’s a whole lot of money.

According to Professor Kenichi Togawa, of the Faculty of Law at Kumamoto University, the required fees were paid without too much grumbling from the vehicle owners and professional automotive recyclers worked very hard for their compensation.
 
“The new automotive recycling system has apparently taken off with a great deal of success in spite of the general rule that most new social
“Multinational enterprises have obligations that go beyond borders,” says Hirosuke. “For instance, recovery and maintenance of peace, development of economy, environmental preservation, protection of human rights, help of poverty and relief of disaster, etc. These obligations are not legal, but exist in the normal foundation of law or politics.”

Under current world trade law, the proper dismantling of ELVs is entirely the responsibility of the importing country. That’s fine if the vehicles are imported into a country with stringent regulations concerning ELVs and salvage. However, the fact of the matter is that very few of those ELVs are imported into such countries.

“Exporting ELVs sometimes results in refunds of prepaid recycling fees to Japanese vehicle owners,” says Hirosuke. “Some (vehicle owners) would rather have these fees support proper dismantling of exported vehicles, and insist that the return of prepaid recycling fees is unnecessary, and the Japanese government should keep them for a fund that is used for supporting the proper disposal of ELVs export to underdeveloped countries that have neither the know-how or the facilities to dismantle ELVs.”
 
Those familiar with the laws regarding ELVs in Germany may notice a striking similarity to the laws enforced in Japan.However, the system in Germany does not collect prepaid recycling fees. Instead, ELVs are simply dropped off at a depot designated by the manufacturer or importer.

Steve Fletcher is the Executive Director of the Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association and the Managing Director of Automotive Recyclers of Canada (ARC). Steve was Canada’s representative to the Automotive Recyclers International Meeting that was held in Tokyo, Japan this past summer.

JAPAN: AT A GLANCE
Population: 127,433,494
Airbags Recycled: 1.09 million units
Land Area: 374,744 square kilometres
ASR Recycled: 5.51 million kg
GDP: $4.883 trillion l Number of Dismantlers: 6, 279
Number of Vehicles: 75 million
Number of Shredders: 1, 239
ELVs: 5 million a year
ELV Handling Agents: 88, 251
ELVs Collected: 3.57 million a year
Decrease in Illegal Dumping Since Fluorocarbons Recycled: 4.19 million kg     Legislation Enacted: 42.8 per cent

For more information and photos, please visit our website www.canadianrecycler.ca and click on “Japan Recycles” in the Gallery found on the top menu bar.