Promoting Recycling of Resources : Hitachi Cable

In order to advance recycling, the Hitachi Cable Group has set two goals and takes the action to achieve them: a 29% reduction of the generated volume of waste and reusable resources at domestic production sites in FY2011 when compared with FY2001 and a 10% increase of the resource recycling rate in FY2011 compared with FY2006.
In relation to the reduction of the final disposal rate, we achieved the target of 1% or less in FY2008. This was removed from the goals in FY2009, but we are still working on further reductions.

Reduction of volume generated

The volume of waste and reusable resources generated in FY2009 was 37,525 tons, equivalent to a 32% reduction when compared with FY2001. Furthermore, when compared with FY2008, it represented a 9% reduction. However, it is considered that this decrease was because of the decrease in production due to the recession, and we continue to promote initiatives to decrease the volume of waste and to expand recycling in plants toward a substantial reduction.

Final disposal rate

The final disposal rate was 0.4% in total. By plant and company, among 13 manufacturing sites, all six Hitachi Cable plants and three Group company plants achieved 0.5% or less, while two Group company plants achieved 1% or less. The remaining two Group company plants could not fulfill the target of 1% or less because of debris that is difficult to process.

Processing flow of waste and reusable resources

Increasing the resource-recycling rate

As an activity to advance recycling, the Hitachi Group defines the "3R load amount," as a factor to evaluate the amount of processing by category, promoting the reduction of the 3R load amount to equal the increase of the resourcerecycling rate. The definition is set up to decrease the calculated figure of the 3R load amount when compared with the reference year, by advancing the processing of waste from final disposal to simple incineration, thermal recycling and waste recycling.
The 3R load amount in FY2009 was 311 (unit: TJ), resulting in a remarkable achievement of a 17.7% resourcerecycling rate. It is our belief that measures taken in order to reduce the amount of final disposal have contributed to increasing the resource-recycling rate.

Reducing the generation of waste water by developing a waste water processing method

The Takasago Works of Hitachi Cable outsourced the processing of wastewater from the process of cutting compound semi conducting crystals, but the high costs of processing posed a challenge. The wastewater contained surface active agents, and conventional drainage processing methods could not separate oil and cutting powder from water, forcing us to outsource the disposal of the drainage as waste. In order to reduce the amount outsourced for disposal, we started to develop a separation processing method, and, after conducting various experiments, succeeded in separating oil from wastewater by taking advantage of a pressurized floating system using fine air bubbles. It was confirmed that, by mixing general wastewater at a certain ratio, the effects of surface active agents were removed and that a heavy metal scavenger can effectively work; thus developed was a method to separate waste water into water and sludge containing crystal cutting powder. By modifying the existing drainage processing equipment to employ this processing method and actually conducting processing, the amount outsourced that was once 75 tons per month has now been drastically reduced to 0.3 tons.

Initiative for recycling waste paper in the office

Tray box for sorting paper waste

Needless to say, thorough sorting is essential to recycle paper waste that is generated in offices. In offices at the headquarters of Hitachi Cable, many tray boxes for sorting were deployed in order to reduce paper waste and increase the resource-recycling rate. Newspapers and magazines are disposed into trays with a clear indication of categories.
There is a thorough promotion to put documents after business use into the locked box, attempting to completely recycle such resources. Paper waste put into the box are taken to the processing plant, without cutting or other treatment and recycled under strict controls, giving consideration to quality improvement in the resourcerecycling process. Such efforts have contributed not only to the reduction of paper waste and a promotion of resource recycling but also to a changing of awareness.