March 20, 2004 - Used Japanese products big in Cambodia

Puy Kea

PHNOM PENH — While Japan's sterling reputation among Cambodians is largely based on its generous aid to the emerging nation, it is also based on a growing appreciation for Japanese "waste." 

Used refrigerators, air conditioners, bicycles, motorbikes, televisions, tape recorders, computers, and even used brassieres, that had been destined for recycling or dumping in Japan are instead surviving as "new" items for Cambodians — even when the items are no longer environmentally friendly in terms of emissions or coolants.

Cambodians have even coined a name for Japanese castoffs — "Chochus" — which is used to describe secondhand Japanese items, in particular, used computers.

Chochus do, however, present a dilemma.

Many poorer Cambodians are happy to have used or outdated items, but some richer people, both inside and outside the country, complain that an economically deprived country such as Cambodia is hardly the place to dispose of environmentally harmful goods, even if prices are affordable.

Still, at least 20 shops in Phnom Penh alone specialize in selling used Japanese computers.

Ke Thai, 44, owner of Daily Computer in Phnom Penh, told Kyodo News he began the business 30 months ago under an initiative from his uncle.

He said his uncle, who lives in Yokohama, worked at an electronic recycling center there where thousands of computers are recycled, or simply crushed, almost daily.

"My uncle often brought back one or two computers that he thought were still okay for use, even though they had been destined for recycling," he said. "Now, saved computers are sent straight to me."

Daily Computer, in the capital's central business district, has some 500 used computers, both desktops and laptops, that sport brand names such as Sony, Toshiba and Fujitsu.

Customers come not only from Phnom Penh, but also from the provinces where computer knowledge is just being introduced.

Even Buddhist monks, few of whom are computer-literate, flock to the used computer shops.

"I know that the computers are old, but they are still usable, especially those imported from Japan, because all Japanese products are good quality," said Cheng Sokha, 30, a monk for 15 years. "All Japanese products are trusted by Cambodians in terms of quality, unlike those imported from Vietnam or China."

"But the main reason I decided to buy a used computer is because of its low price," he admitted.

And in a country where a civil servant's salary averages $30 a month, price is indeed a factor.

Ke Thai sells used laptops for $50 to $600, while desktops sell for between $30 and $150.

A laptop that originally sold for $1,600 in Japan is now on sale for $600 in his shop, he added.

And used computers from Japan are not only imported by Cambodian entrepreneurs.

A number of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) also bring in used computers to distribute to schools, centers for the disabled and even to government institutions.

The government, however, is not particularly happy with the business and has tried to ban further imports, ostensibly because some sellers were sticking old hardware inside new computer cases and defrauding buyers who thought they were getting a new item.

And some of the items really are just waste, which the government fears is being foisted onto a poor country by richer ones that don't want to dispose of the garbage at home.

The attempted ban, however, has been ineffective because importers circumvent or bribe customs officers at ports of entry or hide "old" items inside other allowed items.

"Normally, used computers are hidden among televisions or other electronic devices," said Tito, owner of Anana Computer, the biggest shop in Phnom Penh selling both new and used computers.

Other commodities from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States and Europe, are also feeding Cambodia's growing hunger for consumer goods.

Secondhand clothes, shoes, bags, belts, curtains and decorative household items are also arriving by the container.

And even in less "technological" fields, items from Japan tend to fetch the highest prices, sellers say.

"If condoms were available for second-time use, then Japanese condoms would find a good market here as well," said student Meach Sopha, a diehard fan of Japanese goods.

Environmentalists, however, decry the continuing import of foreign waste into Cambodia, fearing the waste will prove harmful to human health and welfare.

Heng Nareth, director of pollution control at the Environment Ministry, said waste electronic products contain hazardous substances that cause serious harm if not properly handled or disposed of.

"I am greatly concerned that used products are simply being dumped into garbage heaps near residential areas. The 'rubbish mountain' near Phnom Penh is one example of that," he said.

The "mountain" often emits smoke and runoff from it after the rains is said to be full of harmful substances that seep into the soil and into the groundwater.

But with no proper dump sites or recycling factories in Cambodia, "rubbish mountains" grow almost anywhere.

Used computer salesman Ke Thai claims he imports only serviceable used products, but others say many imports are simply cannibalized for useable parts and the rest of the machines is immediately dumped — in Cambodia, rather than Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the U.S. or Europe.

Still, users such as Ung Kunvibol, a computer trainer at the Institute of Technology and Management, said he guides his students to secondhand shops because most students cannot afford new machines.

"Secondhand computers are very useful and affordable for new learners. New learners are mostly practicing Microsoft Word, so it is unnecessary to buy brand new," he said.

The balancing act for Cambodia now is to provide affordable used commodities while avoiding the environmental hazards such as being enticed into importing toxic waste, useless used tires that are simply thrown away or unwelcome secondhand shoes such as those recently dumped unceremoniously, and harmfully, into a pond in central Phnom Penh.