JP Home Appliance Recycling Act (Act on Recycling of Specified Kinds of Home Appliances)
ENFORCEMENT TIMELINE
Fully enforced April 2001 (Recycling criteria significantly raised since April 2015)
Overview
The Home Appliance Recycling Act is designed to recover useful parts and materials from waste generated by specified home appliances discarded by households and businesses, reducing waste and promoting the effective use of resources. It covers four product categories: air conditioners, televisions (CRT, LCD, OLED, and plasma), refrigerators and freezers, and washing machines and clothes dryers.
The act adopts an extended producer responsibility framework under which manufacturers are required to collect and recycle these products, retailers are required to take back used units, and consumers and businesses discharging the appliances bear the recycling and collection and transport fees.
Enforcement Timeline
1998: The Act on Recycling of Specified Kinds of Home Appliances is enacted.
April 1, 2001: The Home Appliance Recycling Act takes full effect.
2009: LCD televisions, plasma televisions, and clothes dryers are added to the covered product categories.
April 1, 2024: OLED televisions are additionally designated as a covered product category.
Business Impact
Manufacturers and importers of the four covered appliance categories are required to collect their used products at designated collection points and meet the statutory recycling rate targets.
In practice, businesses must also publish recycling fees for consumers, maintain recycling plant capacity for resource recovery processing, and properly operate the recycling ticket (management slip) system.