Abstract
The Ministry of Environment Notification has defined no analytical method for recycled material resources. However, because an appropriate resource evaluation system is necessary, we compared the contents of WEEE and molten metal found using several methods. The methods included matte fusion, which is used for the evaluation of resources in the field of nonferrous metal smelting, and chemical analysis using test methods outlined in Notification No.19 of the Ministry of the Environment, provisional analytical methods for precious and rare metals in electric and electronic products (“provisional analysis method”). The content values obtained using the test methods in Notification No.19 were lower than those obtained using the other method, but the provisional analysis method seems to be suitable for use as a screening test. Although the reproducibility of analysis using the provisional analysis method was lower than that of the matte fusion method, both methods provided comparable content values. Matte fusion is difficult to implement except by the refining industry. For various and diverse metals, provisional analysis is useful by environmental laboratories operated by local governments. Therefore, the provisional analysis method is expected to be used by local governments for analyses conducted in the resource recycling field.
