Initiatives for Resources Recycling

[Video] Chinese version

With swift economic growth advancing worldwide and bringing heightened attention to concerns over resources, the sourcing of new resources and materials will not only impact our global environment, but minerals resource depletion and materials pricing run-up will also become big issues that impact company management.

To address these concerns, we selected resources recycling as an underlying theme along with CO₂ emissions reduction, promoting our Recycling-oriented Manufacturing concept. Under this concept, we minimize the amount of total resources used and maximize the amount of recycled resources, as well as aim toward Zero Waste Emissions by reducing our final disposal of waste from production activities. We continuously look to make our products lighter and smaller to reduce our total resources used, and we employ new technologies that maximize the collection of recycled resources and expand the use of recycled resources. We also look to eliminate the waste generated at our factories by promoting the use of recycled resources, and we aim to reduce the waste we send to landfills to as close to zero.In addition to our efforts to reuse resources and eliminate waste in production processes, we have established a cycle that enables our customers to use products made from the resources collected from used products. Guided by these efforts, we will endeavor to contribute to a sustainable society while achieving continuous business growth.

We use many kinds of resources due to our wide range of products and businesses, from semiconductor parts to houses. In Recycling-oriented Manufacturing, it is important to promote the reduction of total resources used, and at the same time develop a recycling process according to the specific characteristics of each resource for expansion of our usage of recycled resources.

We review the volume of each type of resource used across our Panasonic Group and continuously clarify recycled resource utilization issues. For example, in the case of plastic, by identifying the characteristics of each product that require this resource, securing a stable supply, researching how to recycle it, and developing new recycling technologies for it, we used approx. 8,000 tons of recycled plastic for our products in fiscal 2012. By proactively promoting the use of recycled resources, we launched in February 2012 the Resources Recycling-oriented Products series that incorporate insulation materials and plastics made from recycled resources.

In addition, as for the recycling rate of waste at factories, we had traditionally set the different targets for Japan and countries outside Japan according to the relevant local infrastructures. However, with the recent global awareness of the importance of Zero Waste Emission activities, we have been taking steps to improve the standard level of waste recycling across our entire Group since fiscal 2011.

Using fiscal 2009 as our baseline, we have set the percentage of recycled resources used out of total resources used to more than 12% in fiscal 2013. In fiscal 2012, we achieved a result of 14.7%. In addition, against fiscal 2012 and fiscal 2013 targets of 98.5% and 99% or more, respectively, we achieved a factory waste recycling rate of 98.9% in fiscal 2012. As we look toward our fiscal 2019 goal, we will continue to promote our Recycling-oriented Manufacturing.