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Japan. It is also paving the way for economic and social opportunities in the recycling sector.
However, challenges abound in terms of supply and how urban mining could be
sustainably done in developing countries where technologies are lacking. Likewise,
exposure to toxic metals is high due to the manual nature of recovering used car parts.
Recovery and recycling per se are good but accompanying issues need to be addressed in
developing countries so that real societal benefits are achieved. It is necessary that countries
like Japan, Korea and China identify emerging lessons from the implementation of their
respective ELV recycling laws so that developing countries can learn from them and craft
laws that are appropriate and tailored to local needs and existing resources. This paper
discusses the experiences of Japan and China in the field of urban mining and concomitant
issues and challenges and how they will shape ELV recycling policies in East Asia. Outlook
for the future will also be tackled as a way to create a road map for East Asia in the field of
automobile recycling.
2. Urban mining opportunities and markets in Asia
The term “urban mining” was coined by Professor Nanjyo of Tohoku University in the
1980s to encourage and promote the reuse of precious and rare-earth metals found in used
and discarded electronics. Japan, a heavy user of rare earth metals for its electronic and
automobile industries, depends largely from China which produces 90% of the world’s rare
earth metals. The table below shows the top producers of rare earth based on 2009 data:

Country Production (Metric Ton) Reserves (Metric Ton)
United States insignificant 13,000,000
Australia insignificant 5,400,000
Brazil 650 48,000
China 120,000 36,000,000
Commonwealth of
Independent States
Not available 19,000,000

scrap, copper, silver and gold:

Metals ($/t) Jan 2010 Jan 2011
Range of
Elevation(%)
Iron ore 135 189.5 40.37
Iron scrap 313.5 462.5 47.53
Copper 7,065 9,585 35.67
Gold 1,084.80 1,340.70 23.59
Silver 1,621.20 2,791.90 72.21
Source: Asahi Newspaper, 2011
Table 2. Resource market fluctuation
The prices of valuable earth metals in the world market have significantly risen from 2010 to
2011 with silver achieving the highest increase. In terms of recycling market, the top three
countries which have captured substantial markets for recycling are China, India and Japan
as shown on the following:

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Source: Ministry of Environment, Japan
Fig. 2. Recycling markets in Asia
3. Existing ELV legislations examined
The momentum towards ELV recycling was jumpstarted by the European Union (EU) with
the passage of an ELV recycling law in 2000. Japan passed the “Law for the Recycling of
End-of-Life Vehicles” in 2005. Korea legislated the “Act for Resource Recycling of Electrical
and Electronic Equipment and Vehicles“ in 2008. China, on the other hand, has “Statute 307”
which was enforced in 2010. One of the salient features of this law is that vehicle producers
of imported vehicles shall be responsible for the recovery and treatment of used vehicles
(Serrona, Yu & Che, 2009). There are distinct variations in each of these laws but they all fall

gas &
Automobile
Shredder
Residue or ASR)
Market-based Market-based
Institutional
mechanism
Member states
J
apan
Automobile
Recycling
Promotion
Center
Korea
Environment
Corporation Eco
Assurance System
(ECOAS)
China National
Resources
Recycling
Association
Table 3. Comparison of existing ELV laws
Emerging Issues on Urban Mining in Automobile
Recycling: Outlook on Resource Recycling in East Asia
169
The above table reflects the uniqueness of Japan in terms of who is responsible in ELV
recycling. The end users are the main actors as far as financial obligations are concerned
such as payment of recycling fees. However, manufacturers are liable too like setting and

Table 4. ELV generation and used car export figures (Unit: 10,000 cars)
ELV generation grew rapidly from 2005 up to 2007 and a decline was noted in 2008. This
was due to the introduction of an ELV bounty system or subsidy. However, it is not only the
recycling rate of used car parts that is important but also the reduction in the volume of ASR
because of its harmful effects to human health and the environment, in general. Table 5
reflects the recycling rates for both ASR and airbag: Rec
y
clin
g
Rate (%)
ASR Airba
g

Goal (%)
70% (until 2015)
85% 50% (until 2010)
30% (until 2005)
2008 72.4-80.5 94.1-94.9
2009 64.278.0 92.0-94.7
Source: Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)
Table 5. Recycling rates for ASR and airbag in Japan

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ASR remains a challenge for Japan as recycling rate is still not catching up with say airbags.
The goal in the next five years is to increase the rate from 50% to 70% in 2015. In summary,
the flow of automobile recycling in Japan is shown in the following figure:


Fig. 5. Recovered plastics from a commercial vehicle
It was observed that it is very easy to retrieve plastic materials from a commercial vehicle
because of the simplicity of its interior and a single type of plastic was used. In addition,
commercial vehicles are designed where it is easy to dismantle and recover plastic materials.
On the other hand, a luxury car was dismantled with the following results:

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Methodology Time Responsible
Manual dismantling 40 minutes 2 persons (non-expert)
Separation and collection 10 minutes 2 persons (non-expert)
Table 7. Dismantling of a luxury vehicle
The recovered amount of waste plastic was only five (5) kilograms compared to the
commercial vehicle which was 20 kilograms. The reason was that a luxury vehicle has
complex interior and is made of composite plastic materials. Also, many adjoining materials
are used which complicates the dismantling process and is time consuming as well. Fig. 6. Luxury car dismantled for waste plastic recycling
Sample of recovered plastic materials is shown below: Fig. 7. Waste plastic from a luxury car
A dismantling experiment was also made for a small sedan with amount of plastic materials
recovered shown below:
Emerging Issues on Urban Mining in Automobile
Recycling: Outlook on Resource Recycling in East Asia
173


174
On the left side are plastic pellets and on the right side is the internal part of a fender. In
summary, the volume of plastics that can be recovered as well as the recovery efficiency
depends on the type of vehicle. Figure 9 shows this type of variation. Fig. 9. Recovery efficiency for various types of vehicles
Based on the experiment, it can be concluded that for dismantling time, commercial vehicles
are quick to be dismantled while minivans take time. In terms of volume of plastics
recovered, relatively big cars like commercial vehicles, station wagons, and minivans have
large amount of plastic materials.
4.2 Economic potential of ELV recycling in China
China’s economy is booming at an unprecedented rate. Looking at car possession alone, the
following table shows the rate for the period 2005-2008:

Year Volume of car (million)
2008 49.75
2007 43.58
2006 36.97
2005 31.6
Table 8. Car possession rate in China (2005-08)
Emerging Issues on Urban Mining in Automobile
Recycling: Outlook on Resource Recycling in East Asia
175
It is projected that the number of cars in China will increase a million per year in the near
future due to increasing purchasing power and demand for personal transportation. From
the data mentioned, it is also worth to examine the volume of cars that will become “used”
in the near future. Using the following formulae:
E=A+B-C
Where:

The recovered materials are as follows: Fig. 12. Material composition of a passenger car
72.0
8.0
3.0
1.5
5.0
5.0
5.5
iron
aluminum
copper
lead
glass
seat
others
Emerging Issues on Urban Mining in Automobile
Recycling: Outlook on Resource Recycling in East Asia
177
If only 20% are to be recovered from the 7.2 million passenger cars sold in 2009, the
projected economic loss is about 200 billion Chinese Yuan based on the metallic market price
in China. Thus, the need to find ways to increase recovery rate of ELVs is necessary in the
country where car possession is increasing at a rapid rate (Che, 2011).
5. Monitoring system: A prerequisite in ELV recycling
The importance of establishing a monitoring system in ELV recycling is essential in so

good documentation of vehicle database i.e. registration, type of vehicle and other ELV data.
Policy makers should take these into consideration in order to arrive at legislations that
incorporate locality-based conditions, needs and characteristics into national policies.
7. Conclusions and recommendations
Urban mining is driving ELV recycling into sustainable waste management. Just like solid
waste management, various stakeholders or players are involved such as manufacturers,

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recyclers, users, waste reclaimers and the communities where waste recovery is done.
There is a wide range of opportunities in this field and what is significant is that it has
tremendous impact in terms of reducing toxic waste and providing local employment. In
addition, it helps mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gases as recovering and
recycling rare earth metals consume less energy than extracting raw metals. Closing the
loop of rare earth metal utilization is a necessary attribute of sustainable consumption and
production.
The experiences of Japan and Korea in this aspect are worthy of emulation by other
countries in East Asia. Developing countries, being the destination of used cars, should
formulate legislations that will address the collection, trading and disposal of ELVs which
consider local conditions and capacities. There is a vibrant informal ELV waste sector in
the Philippines, for example, but there is neither database nor monitoring system of
what comes to the country as other ELVs are brought in illegally. The challenge lies in
coming up with a legislation that strongly advocates safe and sustainable resource
recovery. The role of Japan and Korea is to provide technical assistance based on their
best practices. And being the leading manufacturers of vehicles in Asia, they should
incorporate LCA in the production process so that the end users in developing countries
are able to responsibly dispose used cars. Likewise, regulatory institutions will be able to
promote the development of appropriate, labor-intensive and simple technologies to
recover and recycle used metal parts. This kind of symbiosis will allow for a sound
partnership between these countries through job promotion and people to people

jobs and increases the value of recovered parts. However, such method should ensure
adequate protection of workers from exposure to toxic materials.
5. Engage constructive policy dialogues with exporting countries like Japan and Korea to
discuss ways to ensure that used car importation comes with the necessary recovery
system in developing countries. This will ensure that developing economies are not
inundated with pollutive used cars and ELV recycling is done.
8. References
Che, Jia. 2011. Study on a policy model for the establishment of ELV recycling system in
China. PhD diss., Tohoku University.
Increasing recycling markets in Asia. 2011. Asahi Newspaper.
Kanari, N.; Pineau, L. & Shallari, S. (2003). End-of-Life Vehicle Recycling in the European
Union. JOM Journal. Volume 55, No. 8 (August 2003) pp. 1-8,
(accessed April
2, 2011).
Kawakami, Takako (2010). Urban mining softens the blow of restricted supply of precious
and rare-earth metals for electronics. Technology Forecasters Inc
/>restricted-supply-of-precious-and-rare-earth-metals-for-electronics/ (accessed June
7, 2011).
Nagamura, Yuki. 2010. Substance flow analysis of rare metals associated with iron and steel
scraps. Master’s thesis, Tohoku University [in Japanese].
Saito, Yuko & Jeong-soo Yu. 2011. Studies on regional policies: A comparative analysis of
urban mining project initiatives by local governments between Japan and Korea.
Annals of the Japan Association of Regional Policy Scientists (9), 209-214 [in
Japanese].
Serrona, Kevin Roy, Jeong-soo Yu & Jia Che (2010). Managing Wastes in Asia: Looking at
the Perspectives of China, Mongolia and the Philippines, Waste Management, Er
Sunil Kumar (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-7619-84-8,
InTech, Available from:
/>looking-at-the-perspectives-of-china-mongolia-and-the-philippines.
Yu, Jeong-soo, Michiaki Omura & Keiichi Yoshimura. 2008. Controversies and issues of

(aquatic) ecosystems (see section 2).
1

Roughly 80 - 90% of the extracted phosphate rock is used for food production and nutrition.
Given that P is a non-renewable resource and the global reserves are limited (contrary to
nitrogen another essential nutrient) the aspects of scarcity and recycling/recovery have to
be considered. Today’s global mine production and reserves of phosphate rock (average
P
2
O
5
content is 31 % (P 13.5 %), ranges from 26 - 34 % (P 11 - 15 %) (Kratz et al, 2007; Steen,
1998) are reported ca. 160 Mio t/a and 16 billion tons, respectively (USGS, 2010). This gives a
static lifetime for the reserves of some 120 years, a number which has been similarly
reported by several authors before (Röhling, 2007; Wagner, 2005; Rosmarin, 2004;
Pradt, 2003; Steen, 1998; Herring et al., 1993), others come to lifetimes up to hundreds of
years (EFMA, 2000).
Phosphate ore is produced mostly from open pit mines, resulting in dust emissions and
large quantities of tailings (mining wastes). Villabla and colleagues (2008) report material
and energy consumption data for the production of 1 ton of P
2
O
5
(Table 1). Another major
waste is produced at a later stage when wet phosphoric acid (H
3
PO
4
) is produced from
phosphate rock concentrate using sulphuric acid. This so-called phosphogypsum (ca. 5 tons

Food and Agriculture Organisation predicts annual growth rates between 0.7 to 1.3 % until
2030 (FAO, 2000) which would mean an increase of some 25 % in phosphate rock consumption
compared to now. The Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs
of the United Nations Secretariat predict 9.2 billion people in 2050 (+37 %) (UN, 2008).
Considering these facts similar market effects and price volatility as currently are the case for
crude oil have to be anticipated for phosphorous fertilisers in the future (Fig. 1).

Production Stage Input Output
Mining Electricity 697 MJ Waste 21.8 tons
Diesel 125 MJ Mine water
Explosives 3,3 MJ Diesel exhaust gases
Mineral processing Water Waste water
Electricity 1,128 MJ
Tailings 6.5 tons
Flotation reagents
Diesel 396 MJ Diesel exhaust gases
Total primary,
energy consumption ca. 5,500 MJ
Total solid waste ca. 28 tons
Table 1. Material and energy consumption for the production of 1 ton P
2
O
5
(= 0.44 t P),
adapted from Villabla et al. (2008). Fig. 1. a) Phosphate rock production and world population (historic situation and future
trends); b) Phosphate rock commodity price 2006 – 2010


associated with soil and food protection (heavy metals and micro-pollutants). Beyond
agriculture and waste water treatment plant operators and also food industry, food chain
traders and retailers and numerous NGOs are stakeholders. Also the competition between
sludge as P-fertiliser and manure application in countries/regions with extensive animal
production has to be considered in this context.
Sludge application on land has strongly supported the reduction of emissions from point
sources which was very successful for heavy metals where the concentrations in sewage
sludge considerably decreased during past decades. Regarding the source control of micro-
pollutants the discussion has started but as these substances to a large extent originate from
market products the situation is much more complex than for heavy metals. Sewage sludge
not meeting the actual quality criteria for land application or sludge produced in
countries/regions where land application is banned (e.g. in Switzerland) have to be
disposed of. Where landfilling of organic material, as sludge, is not allowed any more
incineration has become a viable treatment option as ashes meet the criteria for landfilling.
At present sludges are incinerated in so-called mono-incinerators or co-incinerated in cement
kilns, coal-fired power plants and waste incineration plants. Incineration destroys the organic
sludge fraction including the micro-pollutants. Phosphorus and also most of the heavy metals
are contained in the ashes. A favourable condition for P-recovery is only with mono-

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incineration (maybe co-incineration with P-rich waste fractions) because only then P-rich ashes
are produced which can be put to special storage sites for future recycling of P.
2. Phosphorus in water quality management
Phosphorus is the limiting nutrient for algae (autotrophic) growth in most fresh water
bodies (lakes, rivers and reservoirs) and some coastal waters influenced by river
discharges. The anthropogenic discharge of phosphorus to these waters therefore
increases the potential for algae growth, which is the starting point of eutrophication.
Eutrophication is characterised by increased availability of phosphorus for primary
production (algae) which represents the basic substrate for the aquatic ecosystems. Even

relevant to investigate the availability of the phosphorus loads (particulate versus dissolved)
and that this strongly depends on the redox conditions in the sediments.
2.1 Source of P in waste water
The main sources of phosphorus in waste water are the human excreta, phosphorus
containing household detergents and some industrial and trade effluents. Precipitation
runoff only little contributes to P-loads in waste water if combined sewer systems are

Phosphorus in Water Quality and Waste Management
185
applied. Figure 2 shows the input and output loads of households in Austria, where P-free
laundry detergents but phosphorus containing dish-wash detergents are used. Fig. 2. Recent phosphorus loads from households (Zessner & Aichinger, 2003)
Industrial use of phosphorus is quite limited; relevant phosphorus loads in industrial
effluents therefore are relatively low. P-discharges to waste water can origin from food and
textile industry and from rendering plants. Industrial and trade contribution to P-loads in
municipal waste water can vary in a broad range depending on local situations and is in a
range of 10 to 40 %.
Historical development
In the 1970 and 80’s the daily phosphorus load per inhabitant in municipal waste water was
up to 5 g, the main source being the phosphorus containing laundry detergents. Due to the
resulting eutrophication problems the removal of P-containing detergents from the market
was achieved which resulted in the actual P-loads in municipal waste water of 1.4 -
1.6 g P/PE/d (1PE = 60 g BOD
5
/d, or 120 g COD/d). Dish wash detergents still contain
phosphorus and contribute to about 10% of the P-loads (ATV, 1997; ATV DVWK, 2004). This
development makes P-elimination from waste water at treatment plants more economically
and ecologically advantageous. Application of P containing dishwashing detergents is still
Fig. 3. Schematic of a conventional activated sludge treatment plant
2.2.1 Mechanical treatment
During mechanical treatment phosphorus contained in the particulate material is removed
from the waste water together with primary sludge which results in a TP removal of 10 -
15 %. Biological incorporation, enhanced biological P-removal and chemical precipitation
are state-of-the-art processes to reliably reduce P-load from waste water. The total
phosphorus loads removed from the waste water in most of the processes applied in
practice end up in the sludge. In principle the P-content of the sludge can be recovered and
reused which is of increasing relevance for the long term availability of this limited resource.
2.2.2 Chemical-physical P-elimination
The most reliable and most frequently applied removal process is chemical phosphorus
precipitation by addition of metal salts. Dissolved phosphorus is converted to solids which
are removed from the waste water together with the sludge. If very low effluent
concentrations < 0.5 mg TP/l) have to be achieved secondary effluents can be treated by
flocculation filtration.
P-removal by precipitation is based on five processes (ATV DVWK, 2004):
1. Dosing: complete mixing of precipitants (metal cations: Fe
3+
, Al
3+
, Ca
2+
) to waste water
stream
2. Precipitant reaction: Formation of particular compounds as precipitant cations,
phosphate anions and other anions.

Phosphorus in Water Quality and Waste Management

4
3-
-> MePO
4
(1)
Theoretically one mole of Fe or Al is needed to precipitate one mole of P. Due to the
different atomic weight of the atoms, the appropriate mass dosage needs to be calculated
based on the molar weights (1 Mol P: 31 g; 1 Mol Fe: 56 g; 1 Mol Al: 27 g). The specific
precipitant dosage (β-value) is the molar ratio between precipitant and phosphorus to be
precipitated as e.g. described above for simultaneous precipitation.
=


(2)
But iron- and aluminium-ions also react with other compounds therefore more precipitants
have to be added than theoretically necessary. With a chemical addition corresponding to a
β-value of 1.5 an effluent PO4-P concentration below 0.5 mg/l (TP < 1 mg/l) can be
achieved with simultaneous precipitation at activated sludge plants. Figure 4 is based on TP
effluent data of full scale municipal treatment plants. It shows the relation between TP
effluent concentrations and the β-factor applied for different P-removal techniques. As
mentioned above satisfying P-effluent concentrations need a higher dosing of metal salts
than derived from stoichiometry only. To precipitate 1 kg P theoretically 1.8 kg of iron
(56/31) and 0.9 kg (27/31) aluminium are necessary (β-value of 1). For simultaneous
precipitation it has to be considered that part of the phosphorus will be incorporated into
the sludge and therefore needs not to be precipitated. For rough calculations it can be
assumed that this incorporated phosphorus at least corresponds to ~ 1 % of the BOD
5
- load
in the influent to the biological treatment (e.g. 0.6 g P/PE
60

Fig. 4. P-discharge in relation to the β-factor (Nikolavcic et al., 1998)
Phosphate reacts also with magnesium and ammonium forming magnesium-ammonium-
phosphate (MAP, struvite), a precipitation product with low solubility (Schulze-Rettmer,
1991). The precipitation (crystallisation) process is strongly dependent on pH. All the 3
components are present in waste water in low concentrations while in the sludge liquors after
anaerobic digestion even in high concentrations. Uncontrolled MAP-precipitation can cause
operational problems by incrustations of pipes and machine parts at sludge treatment plants.
Normally the precipitation process is limited by the (low) Mg concentrations. Efficient MAP
precipitation can be achieved in a controlled process by dosing Mg salts (see side stream and
crystallisation processes). Depending on the location of the addition of the precipitants at waste
water treatment plants the following techniques can be distinguished (ATV-DVWK 2004):
 Main stream processes:
 Pre- precipitation (1),
 Simultaneous precipitation (2),
 Post precipitation with flocculation and sedimentation (3) and
 Post precipitation with flocculation filtration (4)
 Side stream processes
 Sludge liquors
Pre- precipitation (1)
The metal salts are added to the influent of grit chambers or primary clarifiers. The
precipitation product can be separated together with the primary sludge. P-precipitation
results also in additional removal of organic suspended solids which has to be considered
for design and operation of nitrifying and denitrifying treatment plants. Pre-precipitation
has to be continuously controlled according to the influent P-load and for a following
biological treatment P deficiency must be avoid. Especially nitrifying bacteria are sensible to
P-deficiency.
Simultaneous precipitation (2)
This is by far the most frequently applied process in full scale. Precipitants are added to the
influent of the aeration tank, directly into the aeration tank, to the inflow of the secondary
clarifier or to the return sludge. If enhanced biological P-removal is aimed at, the
Fig. 5. Physical- chemical P-elimination
Effluent TP concentrations ≤ 0.1 mg/l can be achieved. It has to be stressed that the specific
cost for the post precipitation processes (€/kg P removed) are much higher than for the in-
stream processes described earlier.
For all the processes the effluent concentrations of dissolved PO
4
-P are depending on type of
chemicals used, β-value applied, pH and temperature. The percental removal efficiency
strongly depends on the P-influent concentration. Applying the same β-value the removal
efficiency will decrease with decreasing influent concentrations. For the TP effluent

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concentration particle removal efficiency and the fraction of complex phosphorus
compounds which cannot be precipitated (e.g. phosphonic acids) in the influent is decisive.
2.2.3 Biological phosphorus removal processes
P-removal by normal-uptake of bacteria
Microorganisms need phosphorus for their growth i.e. the excess sludge production. P-
removal from the waste water therefore is a necessary side effect of conventional biological
waste water treatment, depending on the specific sludge production per unit of organic
pollution (e.g. population equivalent of 120g COD/(PE*d). An average P-removal of 0.6 to 1
g P/(PE*d) can be achieved with bacterial growth only. Microorganisms are able to store
phosphorus in order to survive periods with phosphorus deficiency. This is not relevant in
municipal waste water treatment plants, where there is a continuous excess of P in the waste
water. At plants treating P-deficient industrial waste waters this ability of bacteria has to be
considered for an adequate control strategy for the P-dosage (Svardal, 1998).
P-removal by luxury-uptake of bacteria
Luxury uptake is performed by phosphorus accumulating organisms (PAO) able to store