Desperate to avoid mountains of trash piling up, Japan and China are looking at setting up a recycling program that could spread across Asia.
The first phase of the initiative will be to establish a system in which parts collected from televisions in Japan are reused in China. This cooperation could then be extended to recycling of plastics in general.
Since Japanese manufacturers increasingly are setting up their operations in China and other cheap labor bases, it has become impossible to fully undertake recycling domestically, officials said.
Using the European Union as a model-because recycling there takes place across national borders-the government envisages having agreements spanning the entire Asian region for recycling activities.
Meetings between officials of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and China's State Economic and Trade Commission will start as early as July. The initial focus of discussion will be to seek agreement on the use for televisions in China of cathode ray tube (CRT) glass collected in Japan.
The introduction of home appliance recycling legislation in 2001 resulted in a buildup in stocks of CRT glass, for which there is no home market in Japan. Because CRT glass contains hazardous materials, such as fluorescent substances and iron oxide, Japan will need to secure bilateral agreements if it is to export the waste.
Officials said it was essential the two governments had the ability to track the flow of materials through to actual reuse. As an example, they said materials not used by China could end up being exported to China in what would essentially amount to ``rubbish'' shipments.
China is also showing interest in recycling plastics contained in industrial waste products. The reason for this is that high labor costs in Japan make it economically worthwhile for China itself to reprocess items. Asahi