JP Act on the Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources (Effective Resource Utilization Promotion Act)

The Act on the Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources (Act No. 48 of 1991), commonly known as the Effective Resource Utilization Promotion Act, is one of Japan's core environmental laws, comprehensively promoting the three Rs, reduce, reuse, and recycle, across the entire life cycle of products from manufacturing through use to disposal. It is jointly administered by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of the Environment, and functions as an overarching law that connects with and sits above the Waste Management Act and the Act on Promotion of Resource Circulation for Plastics. The act designates specific industries and specific products and imposes obligations on manufacturers and importers to reduce resource use from the design stage and to collect and recycle products at end of life. Covered categories include products designated for reduction, such as automobiles, home appliances, and personal computers, which must be designed for more efficient material use and longer product life; products designated for reuse and recycling, such as automobiles and personal computers, which must be designed with structures and materials that make disassembly, sorting, and recycling easier; products subject to a mandatory identification labeling requirement, such as items marked with the plastic, paper, steel can, aluminum can, PET bottle, or small rechargeable battery (including Ni-Cd, Ni-MH, and Li-ion) identification marks to facilitate separate collection; and a voluntary collection and recycling obligation placed on manufacturers and importers of personal computers and sealed rechargeable batteries (small secondary batteries) to establish their own in-house collection and recycling systems.