Associate Professor Kiyoshi Kurisu of the University of Tokyo and his colleagues focused on home-use personal computers (PCs), which have not been fully clarified so far, and clarified the actual state of their storage.
Recycling of waste from electrical and electronic equipment is an important issue for building a sound material-cycle society.With the enforcement of the Small Home Appliance Recycling Law, Japan has promoted the collection of small electric and electronic devices as a policy.However, the amount collected does not increase, and there is a behavior of "removal" in which used electrical and electronic equipment is stored without being discarded.This behavior leads to reduced recovery of rare metals and improper disposal of waste.It is necessary to elucidate the actual situation in order to improve measures to promote proper waste discharge of electric and electronic equipment.
In this study, we investigated the actual situation of PC storage at home from a questionnaire to 984 men and women (20s to 70s) in Tokyo.As a result, of the PCs that had already been discarded, 68.9% were discarded within one year, and nearly 1% were stored for more than 4 years.It is estimated that the cumulative number of PCs stored at home will reach 10 million in 2021.In addition, it is estimated that 1180 million PCs will be permanently retired for more than 2030 years in 120.
In addition, the reason for withdrawal changed with the period of withdrawal.It turned out that the used PC is retained in consideration of future usability within the storage period of one year or less. After 3 to 5 years of storage, it was difficult to handle used PCs, and there was no knowledge about disposal methods or data erasure, so we could see that it was difficult to dispose of PCs.The findings also show that not a few consumers misunderstand or do not know the current PC collection scheme.
By clarifying the amount of PCs currently stored, the reason for storage, and the actual state of PC discharge, it is expected that it will lead to the establishment of measures to promote proper discharge and recycling of PCs from homes in the future.
Paper information:[Resources Conservation and recycling] Hibernating behavior for household personal computers
