Study on Environmental Statement for Home Appliances at Online Stores in Japan

Authors: Syuichi Kubota, Kayoko Yamamoto

Abstract:

This study aims to identify the current situation and problems of environmental statement for major four home appliances (refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and television receivers) sold at online stores in Japan, and then to suggest how to improve the situation, through a questionnaire survey conducted among businesses that operate online stores and online malls with multiple online stores. Results of the study boil down to: (1) It is found out that environmental statement for the home appliances at online stores have four problems; (i) less information on “three Rs" and “chemical substances" than the one on “energy conservation", (ii) cost for providing environmental statement, (iii) issues associated with a label and mark placement, and (iv) issues associated with energy conservation statement. (2) Improvements are suggested for each of the four problems listed above, and shown are (i) the effectiveness of, and need to promote, a label and mark placement, (ii) cost burden on buyers, and (iii) need of active efforts made by businesses and of dissemination of legal regulations to businesses.

Keywords: Home Appliances, Environmentally-FriendlyProduct, Environmental Statement, Online Store, Japan.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1061438

References:

[1] Y. Han, Study on Current Situation of Environmental Statement for Products at Online Stores, Papers on environmental information science, No.20, pp.211-216, 2006.
[2] K. Ueno, Development and Prospects of Environmental Considerations and Information for Home Appliances, Denki Gakkai Kenkyukai Shiryo, Vol.2002, No.1, pp.7-12, 2002.
[3] Mie Centers for Climate Change Actions, Report on Project to Promote Collaboration Models among Entities in 2005, Mie Prefecture, 2005.
[4] M. Ide and H. Morita, Report on Research Project on What Information on Environmental Considerations for Products Should be, Denki, No.710, pp.2-5, 2007.
[5] Bureau of Citizens and Cultural Affairs, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Survey on Actual Production, Distribution and Consumption of Environmentally-Friendly Products, etc, Tokyo, 2002.
[6] Center for Environmental Information Science, Manual for "System to Provide Product Environmental Information" designed for consumers, Tokyo, 2006.
[7] Y. Han, Study on Environment Statement for Products at Online Stores, Papers on environmental information science, No.21, pp.25-30, 2007.
[8] RIC, Electric Household Appliance Marketing Data (2007 edition), Tokyo, 2007.
[9] S. Kubota, Study on Environmental Statement for Home Appliances at Online Stores, Master thesis presented to Graduate School of Information Systems, The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, 2009.