Mineral resources for metals, especially those pertaining to rare metals, are concentrated precious products that eventually get deposited near the Earth′s surface over millions of years. These deposits result from an extremely special natural phenomenon called the “Miracle of the Earth.” The “Value of Nature,” corresponding to the rare-metal ores produced by special and rare phenomena, is essentially extremely high. At present, however, the value of these ores is evaluated only in terms of the total cost for mine development, mining, smelting, and so forth, the essential value of these ores is not taken into consideration. Furthermore, as a result of pursuing maximum possible profits, costs for preventing environmental pollution caused by mining or smelting is not accounted for in many cases. Owing to a high recycling cost, most of the rare metals are discarded without recycling after being used as raw materials for various products. In this paper, the medium- and long-term prospects for the material flow of rare-metal resources are discussed by introducing the concept of the “Value of Nature.”

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The objective of this study was to acquire the fundamental knowledge needed to establish environmentally friendly systems for the collection and recycling of small batteries in Japan. We determined the recovery rate of small batteries, investigated the collection classifications made by local governments for used small batteries, conducted a consumer questionnaire and also a survey on small batteries removed from small home electric appliances.
The collection rate for small batteries in Japan was found to be approximately 26%, with the rate for rechargeable batteries being especially low. Room for improvement was noted after we did a comparison with collection rates in European countries. Also, the collection classification systems being used by local governments is not unified between offices : types of batteries and required information on local government websites is considered to be insufficient. An investigation into what happens to small batteries that are removed from small home electric appliances revealed that most of the appliances using rechargeable batteries are disposed of by consumers with the batteries still inside. Results of the questionnaires reveal that there is a shortage of consumer information and awareness, as well as an overall feeling of burden among consumers. We determine that further discussions will be required to solve the problem of disposal and recycling of small, used batteries.

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Recycling is one measure that can be taken to enable the sustainable use of mineral resources and the urban mine, the mineral stock which already exists in society, has become a key concept in the field of recycling. According to trial calculations using the material flow model, it was found that resources are stocked within products : enough cobalt for six years, enough tungsten for seven years, enough neodymium for five years. By combining the systems for storage and pre-processing, these used products which contain useable resources, can be utilized—bringing society closer to banishing the need for importing new resources. On the other hand, according to economic development levels, the quantity of fundamental metal needed for one human being has increased and there is a tendency to ultimately settle on a fixed value. Based on this knowledge, the quantity of mineral resources needed for all human beings can be estimated, and suggestions for what level of recycling is needed can be determined.

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Due to factors such as economic growth and rising populations, the amount of solid waste in the Asian region has been dramatically on the increase and there are many cases where improper management of wastes has caused environmental pollution. Meanwhile, in Japan, although legal and institutional frameworks have been established and cutting-edge technologies have been developed the market for venous industries is becoming saturated.
For these reasons, in 2011, the Ministry of the Environment of Japan started the Programme for Nurturing Venous Industries and Supporting their Business Overseas. This programme aims to provide support to overseas business by Japanese venous industries through a packaged promotion of cutting-edge Japanese technologies for waste management/recycling along with the necessary legal and institutional frameworks for disseminating these technologies. The programme will contribute to environmental protection throughout the world while simultaneously stimulating Japan′s economy. In the programme we are developing the strategy, supporting feasibility studies, establishing information infrastructure and holding a Forum for all relevant parties.

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The Dowa Group was previously a mining company at Kosaka in Akita Prefecture, but now supplies materials and services for a broad range of businesses, including nonferrous metals, environmental management and recycling, electronic materials, metal processing, and heat treatment. Using metallurgical technologies, the company recycles many different metallic elements from electric substrates, films, electrical wires, and so forth. The waste treatment employed by the DOWA Group provides a continuous system, from collection and transportation to intermediate and final treatment. Recently, the DOWA Group has expanded its business to environmental management and recycling in Asian countries such as China, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
As a result of investigations on the material flow of copper, some problems regarding resource reservation have become clear : (i)the natural copper resources of our country have made us strongly dependent on overseas countries ; and (ii)copper that includes used materials (including copper) has not been recycled sufficiently in Japan and has spread overseas as E-scrap.

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Plants run by Mitsubishi Materials Corporation and its group companies recycle Waste PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) and automobile shredder residues through primary copper smelting operations ; they are also involved in the recycling of lead, tin, ITO and other materials. The present status regarding the recycling of materials using the Mitsubishi Continuous Copper Smelting Process is also reported in this paper.

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Our study, based on the bottom-up approach, was conducted on the material flow of plastics that are used and discharged from households and industries in Japan. Based on this approach, a detailed study was done on the volumes and shapes of plastic waste containers and packaging discharged from households. The theoretical estimation using the bottom-up approach shows a good approximation of the actual waste being discarded from households. We believe the results of this study provide a basic foundation for further discussions on establishing an appropriate recycling system for plastics.

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