## Examples of Technical Assistance for Developing Countries in the scheme of the CDM

The environment in emerging countries is deteriorating because of their increasing population and economic growth. Especially in Asia, urbanization and industrialization as a result of economic growth impose serious environmental pollution and increases in GHG emissions. As we have seen in Section 1 of Chapter 4, Japan has had the experience of having overcome environmental pollution, and is expected to contribute to solving environmental issues in developing countries.

Japan has provided technical assistance for implementing co-benefit projects in which reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and moderation of environmental pollution are fulfilled simultaneously.

Here is an example of a project in Thailand, which aims to introduce biomass gas generation utilizing sewage waste water from the bio ethanol industry. The sewage waste water from the industry has been drained into an open lagoon, which caused a large amount of methane emission. Japan's assistance aimed to reduce the water pollution and emission of methane by introducing a sewage management system with divices for anaerobic fermentation and a biomass gas generation system using methane. Half of the emission reduction amount is transferred to Japan as carbon credit.

This is just an example, but it is necessary to promote technical assistance for developing countries through the advance of Japan's high technology overseas and the taking the initiative in the field of countermeasure of climate change countermeasures.

The Project of Biomass Gas Generation Utilizing the Sewage Waste Water from the Ethanol Industry in Thailand

Source: Ministry of the Environment

## Section 3 Exploring and Using Japan's Prospective Terrestrial Resources

## 1 Japan's Prospective Terrestrial Resources

Mineable natural resources are exhaustible, and in some circumstances, such resources could face depletion at a scale or speed that has not been experienced before in 10 to 20 years. Moreover, numerous environmental problems associated with mining mineral resources have recently occurred, and the world has been shaken by an unstable supply of precious and rare metals, which are critical for producing precision instruments.

On the other hand, various used products in Japan contain a deal of reusable metal resources that can be converted to raw materials. If metal resources from used products can be collected and reused, we can reduce the input of newly mined natural resources.

In general, the countries that produce underground resources are different from those that consume them. However, with metal resources (terrestrial resources) in used products, it is highly likely that the two groups will overlap. For example, in Japan, there is a strong demand for platinum to be used in automotive catalysts (muflers), and a large number of used muflers are produced. If, instead of disposing of them as waste, the muflers can be collected separately to extract the platinum to be reused as a raw material for newly manufactured muflers, that amount of platinum can be subtracted from the current volume imported from overseas.

The National Institute for Materials Science carries out research to estimate the amount of metal resources in Japan in the form of terrestrial resources. According to these estimates, there are 1.2 billion tons of iron, 38 million tons of copper, 60,000 tons of silver, 6,800 tons of gold, 4,400 tons of tantalum (a rare metal), and 150,000 tons of lithium. Expressed as a percentage of current global deposits, the figures are 1.62% for iron, 8.06% for copper, 22.42% for silver, 16.36% for gold, 10.41% for tantalum, and 3.83% for lithium (Figure 4-3-1).

It must be noted that the figures above include a large portion of virtually non-recyclable materials (e.g., products currently in use, landfilled waste.) However, Japan's dormant terrestrial resources can be considered to have enormous potential, which could even be equal to that of large mines overseas.

To what degree are we then able to effectively use this massive amount of terrestrial resources today? Metallic waste landfilled instead of being recycled in 2009 amounted to approximately 530,000 tons of general waste (about 34% of the total amount produced) and approximately 230,000 tons of industrial waste (about 3% of the total amount produced). In addition, a significant number of products remain unused and undisposed of in homes (dead storage), including about 50% of all cell phones, about 30% of video and DVD players, and about 40% of portable music players. The statistics indicate that small electronic devices in particular tend to be part of dead storage in households (survey by the Ministry of the Environment).

As stated above, terrestrial resources that are dormant in Japan may have great potential to be used in some form again in the future.

## 2 Flow of Metal Resource Recycling

How are metal resources recycled in Japan? Figure 4-3-2 provides a brief overview.

The Law for the Recycling of Specified Kinds of Home Appliances makes recycling compulsory for four items: air conditioners, TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines. Under this scheme, customers hand over waste home

Figure 4-3-1 Japan's Accumulated Urban Mine Content and Percentage of Global Deposits

Source: Press release reference by National Institute for Materials Science