“Rare metal” is a trend among recyclers and manufacturing business. While China spends much effort to collect scraps and extract palladium, gold, platinum, etc., recycling of rare metal is shunned due to its cost effectiveness in Japan. However, in these days, the “waste” started to be called “urban mine,” creating a kind of bubble boom and scramble to retrieve any kind of scrap or waste they can get.

Our approach to the rare metal recycling has just started. We first began the copier recycle with one of the biggest copier makers. This recycling process does not fit to our usual method, yet copy machines are dismantled by the hands of our staff. Reusable parts such as toners, batteries, fluorescent bulbs are removed and sent back to the manufacture, and all the other parts are kindly separated for further recycling process. We process more than 1,000 ton per month at the most demanding time, contributing to raise the recycle rate of widely used office machines..

Furthermore, our newly started project focuses on man-power dismantling of arcade game machines, personal computers, automated teller machines (ATM), vending machines and other electronic devices for the purpose of collecting computer circuit board and rare metal. The project is yet to be efficient in terms of quality and quantity of non-ferrous metal that we gather. However, we keep making our effort to more detailed recycling and create a new business model.