Four major industrial businesses trading in China are to form a jointly held company in the country to recycle home appliances and electronics. The Chinese government introduced legislation on 1 January 2011 governing the collection, processing and management of waste electrical and electronic products, including televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and personal computers, with an aim to promote proper and safe disposal of the country’s increasing volume of waste home appliances. For example, in Zhejiang, with a population of around 50m, approximately 2.9m units of waste home appliances were collected in a 12-month period from 2009 to 2010, and the amount is expected to increase further.

Global trading and manufacturing company Sumitomo Corporation (Tokyo / Japan; www.sumitomocorp.co.jp/english), electronics giant Panasonic (Osaka / Japan; www.panasonic.com), Hangzhou DADI Environmental Protection Engineering (Hangzhou, Zhejiang / China; www.dadi-ep.com) and metals and recycling specialist Dowa Holdings (Tokyo/ Japan; www.dowa.co.jp) will create Panasonic DADI DOWA Summit Recycling Hangzhou. It is proposed that the company in future will be called Panasonic Hangzhou DADI.

The new recycling business will purchase the waste home appliances from collection companies, disassemble them by using advanced recycling technologies and facilities and sell recycled materials to plastics recyclers, refining companies and manufacturers. The company is expected to start operations in spring 2012.

Hangzhou DADI, which works in collection, processing and general utilisation of solid industrial waste, will cover information gathering on the related laws and regulations and the recycling market. The company will also build systems and routes enabling to collect enough volume of waste home appliances to ensure business viability. DOWA will operate a new recycling plant, drawing on its experience and knowledge built up through its operations in Japan and China.

Sumitomo Corporation will collect information on the global recycling industry as well as market trends and prices that will help sell recycled materials. Panasonic will be the first Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer to enter the Chinese recycling market and will provide its advanced recycling technologies and equipment developed through its recycling business in Japan, including laser separation technology and dry scrubbing equipment for the CRT glass used in televisions.