In the town of Yashiro, 27km outside of Osaka, washing machines, air conditioning units, television sets and refrigerators hum along conveyor belts with the precision that defines the Japanese term kaizen (continuous improvement). These appliances, however, are not on their way to delivery trucks and trains that will take them to retailers. Instead, each unit has reached the end of its life cycle and is about to be disassembled, shredded and even pulverised.
The PETEC (Panasonic Eco Technology Centre) complex is a clean, ultra modern and relatively quiet facility. It is also a leading example of resource recovery. Since 2001, over 1.4bn appliances have been recycled, producing enough materials to manufacture 95 jumbo jets, the equivalent of 81 of the Great Buddha statue at Nara and 158,000 cars from reclaimed aluminium, copper and steel. Machines capture noxious gases that comprise cooling refrigerants. New developments will improve the capture of rare earth metals from high end electronics. Resins including polypropylene and polystyrene are recovered thanks to technology that can quickly sort and separate various types of plastics.
Meanwhile, visitors can watch the entire process from walkways that soar above the shop floors. They can even view the death of old washing machines, thanks to hidden cameras that provide live coverage of them being plunked into a massive shredder that tears them to bits in a few seconds. (Yomiuri)