Contribution of Asian Industries to Hazardous Substances Management and E-waste Recycling

The purpose of E-Waste recycling is resource recovery and hazardous substances management (HSM). However, academic literature that deals with the various social aspects of HSM is limited. As such, this paper focuses on the changes for labeling method, particularly those related to hazardous substance management, and discusses how and why the current mandatory methods have been adopted. We organized the historical information related to hazardous substance management among Asian manufactures prior to the introduction of EU’s RoHS Directive. In the EU, the RoHS Directive has been adopted in conjunction with the E-Waste recycling system. Initially, fulfillment of RoHS Directive requirements was confirmed through the probe assay of individual parts/products. However, Asian countries such as Japan, China and Thailand subsequently introduced product certification schemes that shared similarities with the CE mark, which had been developed as a necessary element of general supply chain management. These Asian certification schemes have played a leading role in RoHS Directive management in global manufacturing, a fact confirmed by the addition of RoHS2.0 to the EU’s CE mark requirements. Thus, it can be said that HSM in Asia has contributed to the establishment of a global standard in terms of entrance control. It is important to consider the future institutional recycling design in Asian region.