Cost Analysis of Waste Paper Collection Systems for Medium and Small-scale Businesses in regards to Collection Efficiency and Indirect Cost

Shin'ya Suzuki*, Hironari Gotoh**, Michiko Yokoyama*** and Kazuo Yamamoto***
* Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Fukuoka University
** Tokyo Metropolitan Federation of Recycling Business Organization
*** Environmental Science Center, University of Tokyo
+ Correspondence should be addressed to Shin'ya Suzuki:
(8-19-1 Nanakuma, Johnan-ku, Fukuoka 814-0180 Japan)

Abstract
In Japan, there is an urgent need to promote waste paper recycling at business establishments. Particularly in Tokyo's 23 wards, the recovery rate of waste paper from large-scale businesses is sufficiently high. On the contrary, the rate from medium and small-scale businesses is low. The objective of this study is to make a cost analysis of waste paper collection systems for medium and small-scale businesses considering collection efficiency and "indirect cost" . Costs of waste paper collection systems are analyzed by using GIS software, which can detect the shortest route. 3 kinds of "shadow costs" are also analyzed, such as "carrying work cost" , "occupation cost of floor space" , and "sorting work cost" . In case of "1F collection" , total costs of the waste paper collection system and carrying work are higher than the waste disposal fee regardless of the number of participating businesses. In the case of "floor collection" , costs of waste paper collection systems are higher than those of 1F collection because of lower collection efficiency, but the difference decreased according to the increase of the number of participating businesses. The container's cost and the occupation cost of floor space also decreased according to the increase in the amount of collected waste paper from each business.

Key words: medium and small-scale businesses, waste paper collection system, collection efficiency, indirect cost