About us > CSR Activities > Environmental Efforts > Environmentally Conscious Business Activities > Efforts in Resource Saving and Circulation
Efforts in Resource Saving and Circulation
KYOCERA Document Solutions not only provides with lower negative environmental impact to the market, but also establishes and operates a system for collecting and reusing/recycling the products no longer used.
KYOCERA Document Solutions has established a resource recycling system. Under this system, all collected used products are transported to recycling centers operated by KYOCERA Document Solutions and carefully disassembled by hand. After that, an inspection identical to that conducted on newly manufactured parts is conducted on the disassembled parts; reusable parts are reused while any parts not reusable are recycled to the utmost extent. The company has been continuing to achieve zero landfill waste (zero emissions) with this resource recycling system.
KYOCERA Document Solutions has eight collection centers and eight recycling centers throughout Japan, where used products and toner containers collected from our customers are processed for recycling. The nationwide allocation of these recycling centers helps reduce our transportation-attributed CO2 emissions, contributing to the prevention of global warming.
At our recycling centers, those components which cannot be reused as they are will undergo a classification/dissembling process to confirm their recyclability from the standpoint of "materials recycling" first (then, from the standpoint of different means of recycling). The objective here is to achieve "zero emissions."*
During FY2010, a total of 2,050 tons of used products including toner containers were collected, most of which have been processed for reuse or recycling. (Our landfill was 1.7 tons in FY2010.)
*Zero emissions: (Outline of the "zero emissions" concept and our definition)
KYOCERA Document Solutions Recycling Centers
Recycling flowchart for collected used machines
Our recycling policy is to prioritize "reuse" opportunities, instead of a mere recycling of end-of-life articles, as we consider used products to be valuable future resources as products or parts. However, some components cannot be reused as they are, and for these components, we will examine them to confirm their recyclability from the standpoint of "materials recycling" first, and then from the standpoint of "chemical recycling"*1 or "thermal recycling,"*2 with the aim of eliminating to the maximum degree those going to a landfill. Starting from FY2008, we have been emphasizing the "zero emissions" policy.*3
- *1 Chemical recycling:：In the iron industry, waste plastics are processed to be recycled as a substitute for coke. In the chemical industry, waste plastics are pyrolyzed and gasified to be recycled as a substitute for petroleum or coal.
- *2 Thermal recycling：Waste can be either used as it is as a fuel for power generation or a thermal source, or processed into gas, oil or solid fuel as an alternative fuel.
- *3 Zero emissions：This policy aims at a thorough utilization of all wastes generated through business activities as a resource for any other business activity, thereby ensuring that nothing will be thrown away.
Flowchart of the recycling system prioritizing "reuse" opportunities
About us > CSR Activities > Environmental Efforts > Environmentally Conscious Business Activities > Efforts in Resource Saving and Circulation
