Patent ID: 7628316

Claim:
A recycled product distribution support apparatus, comprising: a storage unit which acquires information from a client terminal via a communication network and stores the information; an order information reception unit which receives order information from said client terminal via said communication network; a collection necessity determination unit which determines whether or not it is necessary to collect used products necessary for supplying recycled products having been ordered, based on the order information received by said order information reception unit and the information stored in said storage unit; a recovery base point appointing unit which appoints a recovery base point which will be in charge of recovery of the used products, based on the information indicating recovery performance of recovery base point stored in said storage unit, in a case where said collection necessity determination unit determines that it is necessary to collect used products; a collection base point appointing unit which appoints a collection base point which will be in charge of collection of the used products, in a case where said collection necessity determination unit determines that it is necessary to collect used products; and an instruction unit which creates instruction information for instructing that the used products be recovered, and sends the instruction information to said client terminal installed at the recovery base point appointed by said recovery base point appointing unit, and which creates instruction information for instructing that the used products be kept, and sends the instruction information to said client terminal installed at the collection base point appointed by said collection base point appointing unit, wherein said collection base point appointing unit appoints a collection base point based on a cost required for collecting and recovering the used products.