Japan is a major
consumer of electronic appliances/ devices and it generates loads of electronic
waste (e-waste) annually. In year 2005, Japan abandoned 7 million computers,
amongst which 37% were recycled, 37% reused and the remaining 26% exported
overseas. Most of Japanese e-waste is migrated to developing countries such as
Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia (Elliott & Shimamoto, 2008). Report has
noted that more than 400,000 television sets end up in Philippines annually (Hornyak,
2010) and this has attracted sweatshops around the dumping grounds overseas. In
Manila, dozens of sweatshops are operating near the dumpsite to extract gold
from unwanted Japanese circuit boards. These little factories uses toxic
chemicals, such as potassium cyanide and nitric acid, to treat the waste which
is then released illegally into nearby residential area (ibid.). Since e-waste contains heavy metals such as lead, mercury
and cadmium, these contaminants can pollute surrounding water sources and even
agricultural soil. Consequently, a myriad of environmental health risks is bred
from this water and soil pollution. In a bid to address this issue, the japan
government is increasing its scope of waste collection for recycling. As seen
in Diagram 1 below, small household wastes such as cellphones, camera and hair
dryer will be collected. Because this is a pilot test in Osaka City, no
official amendments has been done on the Home Appliance Recycling Law today.
Diagram 1: Pilot Test on Collection of small household metal wastes in Osaka City (Source: UNEP, 2011)
The Basel
Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and
Their Disposal has been ratified by Japan in year 1993 but there have still
been contraventions to the agreement. In 1999, a Japanese firm shipped 2700
metric tons of hazardous medical and industrial waste to Philippines under the
disguise of recycling paper (Clapp, 2002). In fact some developing nations, such
as India, welcome the importation of toxic waste and these countries have not
ratified the Convention till today. The Basel Convention is thus ineffective in
regulating transboundary waste migration. One big flaw of the Convention is
that there is no standard for distinguishing garbage from secondhand goods
(Hornyak, 2010). An abandoned computer might be deemed as a repairable
commodity by Philippines and thus the movement of e-waste is permitted.
In conclusion,
e-waste migration to developing Southeast Asian countries is prevalent and this
could be a kind of transboundary pollution. In my opinion, having a sound legal
system is insufficient as Japanese companies could still relocate polluting
industries overseas. This will indirectly migrate waste overseas, as pollution
is not happening within Japan. With Japan’s strict regulations and fees, companies
might find it troublesome to locate factories in the country. Relocation of
polluting industries might then be an option for corporates as they can escape
the tight environmental regulations. Hence, a balance between legal and fiscal
policies locally and globally is needed to prevent this from happening. Only
with concerted efforts from the global community can we then uphold environmental
protection and standards.
References
Clapp,
J. (2002). Seeping Through the Regulatory Cracks. SAIS review, 22(1),
141-155.
Elliott, R. J., & Shimamoto, K. (2008). Are ASEAN Countries
Havens for Japanese Pollution‐Intensive Industry?. The
World Economy, 31(2), 236-254.
Hornyak, Tim. 'Recycling Electronic Waste In Japan:
Better Late Than Never'. CNN 2010. Web. Retrieved from http://travel.cnn.com/tokyo/shop/urban-mining-finding-value-amongst-old-electronics-464333
UNEP,. 'Separate Collection Of Small Household Metal
Wastes And Survey On Disposal Of Small Home Appliances For Waste Reduction In
Osaka City'. N.p., 2011. Web. Retrieved from http://www.unep.org/ietc/Portals/136/Events/WEEE-E%20workshop%20July%202011/09.Osaka%20City.pdf
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