Analysis of the efficacy and feasibility of recycling PVC sashes in Japan

Abstract Currently, PVC sashes are used widely in Europe, where they are recycled when discarded, in an effort to reduce landfill volumes and reduce environmental impact. In Japan, PVC sashes became popular in the 1980s, mainly in Hokkaido, but a structure for recycling used PVC sashes has not been established. This paper researches a PVC sash recycling system in Japan, and assesses the efficacy of the system in Hokkaido on environmental impact reduction, as well as its economic feasibility. Based on the result of these assessments, the efficacy of future PVC sash recycling systems on environmental impact and its economic feasibility was discussed. An inventory analysis on the environmental impact assessment showed that the CO 2 emissions from PVC sash recycling in Hokkaido, for manual secondary separation in recycling plants, reaches 233 kg-CO 2 /ton. For machine separation, it varies between 288–380 kg-CO 2 /ton. As for the economic feasibility of PVC sash recycling, if the secondary separation is carried out manually, the feasibility is low. On the other hand, if machine separation is adopted, labor costs are low and revenue increases. Therefore, it was found that, even if PVC sashes are collected from relatively distant locations, it is economically feasible. From the above, this research demonstrated that it is possible to reduce CO 2 emissions through PVC sash recycling. In addition, it was shown that the economic feasibility of the PVC sash recycling system is low if its separation process is done manually, but it becomes feasible if automated.