## 3 Recycling vehicles and marine vessels

## (1) Recycling vehicles

In accordance with the “Act on Recycling, et. of End-of-Life Vehicles (Act for automobile recycling)”, a system for confirming that end-of-life vehicles are scrapped, is being implemented. When deleting vehicle registrations from the “Road Transportation Vehicle Law,” the scheme for returns in vehicle weight tax is also conducted, in order to promote the proper disposal of end-of-life vehicles and prevent illegal dumping.

## (2) Recycling marine vessels

The recycling of large vessels (ship recycle) $ ^{Note 1} $ has generally been conducted in developing nations such as Bangladesh and India, where the frequent occurrence of human casualty accidents and marine pollution in the facilities continue to raise concern. In order to solve these issues, Japan lead discussions with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which resulted in the adoption of the “2009 Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (tentative name) (Ship Recycling Convention)”. This convention mandates the inspection and retention of proof documents for marine vessels and ship recycling facilities respectively, and also bans the use of asbestos or polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in newly built vessels. Various guidelines to supplement the implementation of this convention were formulated at the IMO under the initiative of Japan and were all adopted in October 2012.

Japan, ahead of the world, is working towards a developed-country-style ship recycle system with the environment in mind, while carrying out the study of business management schemes based on market characteristics. There is also a study underway for a domestic legalization of a treaty with an eye towards the conclusion of the Ship Recycling Convention.

On other fronts, because privately owned pleasure boats are mostly made of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP), which is difficult to dispose, there has been a demand for a waste processing route for proper disposal. In response, we undertook activities in building a processing route, as well as developing recycling technologies for FRP boats. As a result, approximately 600 FRP vessels are properly recycled yearly under the leadership of the Japan Boating Industry Association throughout Japan since 2005.

## 4 Efforts in Green Procurement Note 2

In light of partial revisions to the basic government policies, based on the “Law Concerning the Promotion of Procurement of Eco-Friendly Goods and Services by the State and Other Entities (Law on Promoting Green Purchasing)”, the “Policy for promoting the procurement of ecologically friendly goods, etc.” was adopted. Based on this policy, we are actively advancing the procurement of ecology-friendly goods for building materials, construction machinery, method of construction, and objectives in public construction work.

## 5 Promoting the use of wooden building materials

Because wood is an environment-friendly building material due to reasons such as requiring less energy to process in comparison to other materials, and long-term utilization in various applications contributing to preventing global warming and forming a recycling-oriented society, we strive to encourage the utilization of wooden materials in public construction.