Disused Home Appliances Door-to-door Pick-up Service No. 37

Transcription

1 Disused Home Appliances Door-to-door Pick-up Service No. 37

2 Table of Content Table of Content I. Overview II. Background 2.1 Existing large disused home appliances pick-up and recycling system III. Targets and Progresses 3.1 Disused Home Appliances Door-to-door Pick-up Service 3.2. Progresses IV. Expected outcomes 1

3 Ⅰ. Overview Ⅰ. Overview The Disused Home Appliances Door-to-door Pick-up Service (the pick-up service) is a large home appliances (TVs, refrigerators, washing machines) pick-up and removal service provided by local governments for free of charge. One can make a free pick-up request either online or by phone, and dedicated pick-up and removal team from the local government in charge will visit the requested household to pick-up and remove the disused appliance free of charge. Seoul Metropolitan Government initially started the pick-up service in June 2012 as a pilot. Then it expanded in scope to include 5 other metropolitan cities and provinces in May Some 162,000 appliances in total have been removed and recycled by the end of 2013, which is equivalent to savings in pick-up and removal fees worth 2.1 billion KRW. The Korea Association of Electronics Environment (KAEE) conducted a telephone poll among the pick-up service users during the period between January and December last year (2013), which indicated a highly positive response with 99.6% (8,566 out of 8,601) of all users expressing their satisfaction with the service. Accordingly, the number of pick-up requests soared by 50 to 60% in 2013 when compared with the 2012 figures. The success of the pick-up service will also contribute to achieving the nationwide recycling target. In addition to the 6 cities and provinces already participating in the project, Chungcheongnam-do, Jeollanam-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, Jeju-do, and Sejong City launched their pick-up services as of April 2014, followed by the rest of Ulsan City in June, and Gangwon-do, Chungcheongbuk-do, Jeollabuk-do, and Gyeongsangbuk-do in July, to raise the number of participating cities and provinces to 16 as of late July

4 Ⅱ. Background Old electrical/electronic appliances are usually either bought back by the sellers of the new ones to be recycled through their sales networks, or picked up by private pick-up & recycling service providers. The private recyclers are mostly small businesses and generally do not document or record their pick-up activities. Ⅱ. Background By law, all wastes not subjected to the nation s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system are required to be picked up and removed by a registered pick-up vehicle, which often incur excessive transportation cost burden for the recyclers. 2.1 Existing large disused home appliances pick-up and recycling system Absence of stable pick-up system apart from the service provided in the form of trade-in rebates by the producer On the other hand, citizens who want to use local government pick-up services must purchase waste stickers that cost between 3,000 and 15,000 KRW. They, then, are responsible for carrying the used appliances, which are in most cases bulky and heavy, down to the designated locations. In Korea, disued electrical/electronic appliances are picked up and removed by the producers/ sellers, local governments or the recycling facilities. Due to these reasons, undocumented pick-ups and illegitimate removals of the disused home appliances and illegal dumping became widespread, leading to inefficient and problematic recycling regime for home appliances. Concerns over environmental pollution caused by illegitimate disposal disused Disused home appliances pick-up process Local govemments Collection of disused Reverse collection Producers/retailers household appliance system home appliances The lack of proper supervision of the processes for collecting and transporting disused home appliances for recycling sometimes cause unnecessary damages not only to the appliances but also to the environment. For example, damaged old refrigerators may lead to Freon gas leaks. Therefore, a streamlined control over the collecting and recycling home appliances is needed so that they can be transported safely to a recycling center, disassembled, and be processed without causing environmental harms. Wasted resources due to illegitimate disposals Valuable metal resources can be recycled from the disused household appliances, which can Recycling businesses be reused as raw materials. 4 5

5 Ⅱ. Background Description of valuable metal resources recoverable from disused home appliances Appliance Total(%) Ferrous Non -ferrous The collected electrical/electronic home appliances may end up being recycled for metal scraps, resold in second-hand markets, or exported. Studies have indicated that there is a substantial market for illegal exports of core parts taken out of disused home appliances. Recyclers suffer from a shortage of supply due to illegal sales of used and/or waste parts to overseas with approximately 30 to 50% of small home appliances such as second-hand PC ending up in various overseas countries, including Japan, Sweden, and China. Lack of recycling due to inefficient pick-up system Disused home appliances are rich in valuable metals. In contrast to the dwindling reserves of the natural resources, the amount of scrap-metal resources is gradually on the rise while rate of recycling of them remains sluggish. These wasted resources, on the other hand, also threaten the environment as potential pollution sources. High-income countries are striving to secure scrap metals as substitutes for natural resources: US, Japan, and Germany gain over 40% of their industrial demand for metal resources from scrap metal recycled from disused home appliances. Korea, however, is reported to have a rare non-ferrous metal recycling rate as low as 15% despite the increase of disused electrical/electronic appliances by 27% on average annually following the introduction of the EPR in Plastic Other Glass Urethane Double door refrigerator Front-loading washing machine LCD TV Tower-type air conditioner Source) Korea Association of Electronics Environment, Resource Circulation Research Institute Disused electrical/electronic appliances pick-up & recycling process It is against this backdrop that the Ministry of Environment launched a pilot project of providing free door-to-door pick-up service in the Seoul Metropolitan Area in June 2012, in order to alleviate the inconveniences of self-disposing the disused home appliances and to establish a systematic public pick-up and recycling framework. The project soon expanded to include Daegu, Daejeon, Busan, Gwangju, and Gyeonggi-do in May last year (2013), and Chungcheongnam-do, Jeollanam-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, Jeju-do, and Sejong-si in April this year (2014). As of late July 2014, a total of 16 cities and provinces are participating in the pickup service. Waste Pick-up Transportation Recyclable item (free) Consumer (household) Disposal of waste home appliance (Charging) Purchase of new product Disposal of disused home appliancewaste Re-user (importer) Local government (cities provinces, counties) Producer Source: Scrap-metal resources recycling measure (2009) Re-user (repair) Collection-> Sorting Distribution center Recycling & Reuseprocess Domestic sales Overseas export Waste processing Recycling Center In-house processing (compressing, landfill, etc.) Outsourced processing (compact, landfill etc.) Recycling service provider Recycling Center 6 7

6 Ⅲ. Targets and Progresses Reservation-based Pick-up Service Ⅲ. Targets and Progresses Consumers can arrange the free pick-up service via online ( by contacting the Call Center ( ), or using the Kakao Talk (ID: weec). The reservation system is aspiring to provide a user-friendly call-in service, through which the pick-up to the nearest recycling center can be arranged without unnecessary hassles. Consumer books a free pick-up service online or via phone call -upbe arrangede a user-friendly call-in service, through which the pick-up to door-to-door a Recycling Center Webpage ( / Call center ( ) / KaKao Talk(ID: weec) 3.1 Free Door-to-door Pick-up Service for Disused Home Appliances Led by the Ministry of Environment, the Free Door-to-door Pick-up Service for Disused Home Appliances is provided by the local governments, home electronics dealers and the Korea Association of Electronic Environment. Upon request of picking up a disused home appliance made via online or phone call, a pick-up at the requested household is arranged free of charge. The service aims to promote convenience for consumers and increase pick-up and recycling rates. Target Items Primary target Items Large-sized disused home appliances longer than one meter in length, including refrigerator, washing machine, and air conditioner. Secondary target Items Small appliances such as stereo and cell phone can also be picked up along with the large one(s). Disused appliances damaged in their original form (such as refrigerator without the compressor unit) cannot be subject to the free door-to-door pickup service. Concept diagram of door-to-door pick-up service Concept diagram of door-to-door pick-up service Consumer (waste disposal) Free door-to-door pick-up (Dedicated pick-up) Request Local government (Waste Collection Center) Consumers may dispose of additional small home appliances together with the larger one(s) longer than 1m in length by adding those items to the pick-up list at the time of booking the service. Pick-up and Transportation Every pick-up and transportation is done by a two-person team with a transportation vehicle. The expenses are covered by manufacturers, sellers, importers, and the Korea Association of Electronic Environment (KAEE). According to a public survey conducted in 2013, the general public's satisfaction of the service reached as high as 99.6%. Call Center Booking Pick-up Registry System (for pick-up) The collected appliances are transported to recycling centers within the same jurisdiction of the 8 9

7 Ⅲ. Targets and Progresses local government. Priority is given to the centers that can provide storage for home appliances, as the centers should properly contain environmental pollutants such as Freon gas from home appliances. The free door-to-door pick-up service aims to increase the collection & recovery rates for disused household appliances by establishing waste pick-up & transportation systems in local governments nationwide. Sorting and Recycling Waste items at recycling centers go through a series of recycling processes, including preprocessing, phased shredding, and magnetic sorting at eco-friendly facilities. A variety of parts and materials including plastic, steel, and copper can be reuse either directly or as raw materials for production in electronics and other industries. Materials recycled from disused household appliances include metals, glass, urethane, non-metals and plastics. The reusable content of the waste appliances is the highest for washing machines at 96.2%, followed by air-conditioner (93.4%), TV (92.4%), and refrigerator (80%), respectively Progresses The Disused Home Appliances Door-to-door Pick-up Service launched in 2013 picked up and collected over 162,000 disused appliances of various kinds (7,457 tons in weight) including refrigerators and washing machines. The economic benefits of recycling disused home appliances in 2013, including recycling of valuable resources and savings in landfill cost, are estimated at 14.7 billion won along with approximately 25,000 tons of reduction in greenhouse gas emission. An estimated 127,000 pick-up reservations have been made through the call centers, saving 2.1 billion KRW equivalents of waste disposal stickers. When it comes to the number of pick-ups by local government, Seoul Metropolitan Government was the highest with 91,174 (56%), followed by Busan with 17,616 (11%), Daegu with 11,221 (7%), Gyeonggi-do with 6,752 (4%), Daejeon with 5,611 (4%), and Gwanju with 5,611 (3%). Classified by the product type, TV topped the list with 69,444 (42%), followed by refrigerators with 45,196 (28%) and washing machines with 10,928 (7%). Recycling of resources and energy for waste household appliances Number of free pick-ups in six local governments in 2012 (Seoul Metropolitan Government launched free pick-up service in June 2012) Municipality Seoul Daegu-si Daejeon Gyeonggido Busan Gwangju Total Consumer (disposal of waste appliance) Door-to-door pick-up Weight(Ton) 2, , ,116 Source) Korea Environment Corporation New product production Recycling Center Production using recycled materials (washing machine) recycled material (pellet) Source: Ministry of Environment 10 11

8 Ⅲ. Targets and Progresses Number of free door-to-door pick-ups in 2013 (unit: items) Number of free door-to-door pick-ups in first-half of 2014 (unit: items) Municipal government (implemented date) Seoul ('12.6) Daegu (aegu6) Daejeon ('13.6) Gyeonggido (partial, 9 si and guns) ('13.6) Busan ('13.7) Gwangju ('13.9) Total Category Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Total Total 11,011 (9.3%) 15,693 (13.3%) 17,525 (14.8%) 27,101 (22.9%) 23,280 (19.7%) 23,512 (19.9%) 118,122 (100%) Note (ton) 6,160 Total (units) Volume (ton) 91,174 (56.1%) 3,872 (51.9%) 17,616 (10.8%) 765 (10.3%) 6,751 (4.2%) 405 (5.4%) 11,221 (6.9%) 877 (11.8%) 30,231 (18.6%) 1,312 (17.6%) 5,611 (3.5%) 223 (3.0%) Refrigerator 24,712 5,429 1,758 2,600 9,142 1,465 Washing machine 6,682 1, , Air conditioner 1, TV 40,166 7,274 2,519 4,645 12,682 2,158 Medium size sub total 4, , PC body 1, Monitor 1, Audio Printer Fax ,604 (100%) 7,454 (100%) 45,106 (27.7%) 10,928 (6.7%) 3,147 (1.9%) 69,444 (42.7%) 8,662 (5.3%) 2,484 (1.5%) 2,340 (1.4%) 1,831 (1.1%) (1.1%) 162 (0.1%) Seoul 4,677 6,992 7,051 6,561 5,761 6,134 37,176 1,900 Busan 2,562 2,973 3,392 3,132 3,158 3,381 18, Daegu 1,151 1,468 1,657 1,499 1,762 1,603 9, Gwang-ju , Daejeon , Gyeong-gi 1,521 2,368 2,385 1,939 2,213 2,310 12, Ulsan ,055 1,095 1,085 1,453 5, Gyeongsang buk-do Gyeongsang nam-do Chungcheong nam-do , ,537 4,714 4,217 15, ,043 1, , Jeollanam-do ,536 1, , Sejong Jeju , , Source) Korea Association of Electronics Environment Others in medium size (1m or more) Others in small size (less than 1m) 3, , ,048 1,985 1,171 1,813 3, ,352 (3.9%) 18,965 (11.7%) Note 1) Others in medium size: electrical ovens, air purifiers, dish washers, dish dryers, vending machines, running machines, photocopiers, water dispensers etc. of 1m or above Note 2) Others in small size: other small electronic items of 1m or less (microwave ovens, fans, cell phones, phones etc.) 12 13

9 Ⅳ. Targets and Progresses Ⅳ. Expected outcomes The Free Door-to-door Pick-up Service of Disused Home Appliances is a free home appliances pick-up and removal service provided by local governments and is an important policy vehicle to achieve the national vision of a resource circulation society where resources and energy are recycled and circulated in a virtuous cycle. Compared to year 2012, the recycling rate of disused home appliances increased to 60% from 10%, indicating a strong success of the program. Moreover, the fact that the electronics produced using a certain amount of recycled plastics are eligible for extra credits granted by Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) in the current US market, which is a qualification officially approved by the Public Procurement Service in Korea, raises expectations for home appliances recycling market both at home and abroad. Some 330,000 waste home appliances (15,000 tons) were picked up this year, saving waste disposal fees worth 4 billion KRW and achieving approximately 30 billion KRW worth of economic benefits. The program is evaluated to make contributions to enhancing the efficiency of recycling as well as to boosting the recycling rates, and ultimately to building a resource sustaining society. Driven by highly positive public responses on top of these impressive accomplishments, the Ministry of Environment is planning to expand the free pick-up service nationwide in the first half of next year (2015) for all people to enjoy its benefits. Reference (2009) Scrap-metal resources recycling measure, joint research report by relevant authorities Press release from the Ministry of Environment Concept diagram of door-to-door pick-up service Korea Association of Electronics Environment Korea Environment Corporation Korea Association of Electronics Environment, Resource circulation research lab Environment conservation Promote convenience Economic growth Resource circulation 14 15

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