International Journal of Waste Resources

Abstract

The Role of Labelling of Chemical Substances Contents in Recycling Promotion - Japanese Case

Mizue Kama and Toshikazu Shiratori

In this study, we investigate the effect of new legislative requirements on industrial product development. We use the case of Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive and the development of halogen-free (HF) printed circuit board (PCB) in an attempt to answer the following questions: (1) What impacts can environmental regulations – such as RoHS Directive – have on the manufacturing industry? (2) How have the manufacturers – especially those outside the European Union (EU) –responded to the RoHS Directive? (3) How has the manufacturing of HF products progressed in the wake of the directive? In order to investigate these, we focused the issue of halogen in the thermosetting resin of PCB of mobile phone. We illustrated their time trend of HF PCB labelling method and actual Br existence among many manufacturers in each milestone of the regulations. Finally, almost manufacturer complied with RoHS Directive, but each starting time was different. The results of this research are the first example to illustrate this fact in the history of the electronic industry.