Based on the Law for the Recycling of Specified Kinds of Home Appliances, known as the Home Appliance Recycling Law, the Sanyo Group, as a manufacturer of home appliances, collects and recycles used product units of the four specified items (air conditioner, television, refrigerator/freezer, and washing machine).
For fiscal 2008, a total of approx. 1,253 thousand used units of the four specified items were processed for recycling. The recycling rates achieved were: 91% for air conditioners, 90% for televisions, 77% for refrigerator/freezers, and 88% for washing machines.
| Category | Air conditioner | Television | Refrigerator/ Freezer |
Washing machine | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Units recovered at designated sites (thousand units) |
181 | 354 | 355 | 375 | 1,266 |
| Units processed for recycling (thousand units) |
180 | 345 | 353 | 373 | 1,253 |
| Weight of the units recycled or otherwise processed (t) | 7,459 | 10,138 | 20,663 | 12,225 | 50,486 |
| Weight of the units recycled (t) | 6,853 | 9,214 | 15,957 | 10,863 | 42,888 |
| Recycling rate (%) | 91 | 90 | 77 | 88 | - |
* "Units processed for recycling" and "Weight of the units recycled or otherwise processed" refer to the number and weight of the specified discarded home appliances that underwent processing necessary for recycling during fiscal 2008.
* Values are rounded down to the nearest integer.
| Category | Air conditioner | Television | Refrigerator/ Freezer |
Washing machine | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron (t) | 1,809 | 1,173 | 8,511 | 5,223 | 16,718 |
| Copper (t) | 484 | 406 | 344 | 268 | 1,504 |
| Aluminum (t) | 1,105 | 4 | 78 | 82 | 1,271 |
| Mixture of nonferrous and ferrous metals (t) | 2,462 | 20 | 2,944 | 1,654 | 7,081 |
| CRT glass (t) | - | 5,298 | - | - | 5,298 |
| Other valuable resources (t) | 989 | 2,311 | 4,079 | 3,634 | 11,015 |
| Total weight (t) | 6,853 | 9,214 | 15,957 | 10,863 | 42,888 |
* Values are rounded down to the nearest integer.
* "Other valuable resources" include plastics and other.
In Japan, the Law for the Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources requires manufacturers of portable rechargeable batteries (secondary batteries) and manufacturers and importers of products using secondary batteries to collect and recycle used secondary batteries.
Voluntary collection and recycling of secondary batteries are being done through the collection system established and operated by the "Japan Portable Rechargeable Battery Recycling Center (JBRC)" with applicable enterprises being the operating members. Sanyo, as one of the founding parties of JBRC, plays a central role in the construction of collection routes, thus proactively addressing collection and recycling of secondary batteries.
The amount of used secondary batteries collected by JBRC is over 1,000 tons a year and it is increasing yearly. Regarding the recycling rate: Rate of Amount Reconverted into Resources (= Substance Quantity Reconverted into Resources x Metallic Element Content Percentage) to Collected Amount, over 70% has been achieved for NiCd and nickel-metal hydride batteries and approximately 60% for lithium-ion batteries.
In the future, Sanyo will proactively provide continued cooperation to JBRC and strive to increase the amount of used secondary batteries collected and recycled.
Example of Packaging
Materials Reduction (Eco Cute)
To comply with the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law*1 every year the Sanyo Group calculates the annual consumption of containers and packaging materials and reports the result to the Japan Containers and Packaging Recycling Association. In addition, Sanyo is fulfilling its duty to recycle containers and packaging materials based on the recycling consignment contract concluded with said association.
Further, in response to a proposal of the Japan Business Federation in 2005 regarding formulation of "Voluntary Action Plan" to promote the 3Rs*2 for containers and packages, as a member of the consumer-electronics industry the Sanyo Group is doing the following.
*1 Law for promotion of sorted collection and recycling of containers and packaging
*2 Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
- Developing packaging technologies to minimize environmental impact in cooperation with various businesses in all packaging-related fields
- Avoiding excess packaging and optimizing product strength to enable maximum protection with minimum packaging
-
Realizing improved environmentally-conscious logistics process to reduce the use of containers and packages
- Offering consumer education to facilitate easy separate collection of waste materials
| Paper container | Plastic container | Cardboard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2008 | 128,905 |
192,333 |
6,872,038 |
| FY2007 | 91,735 | 164,925 | 9,475,369 |
| FY2006 | 102,742 | 147,947 | 9,549,067 |
| FY2005 | 124,050 | 152,296 | 10,922,437 |
| FY2004 | 185,835 | 148,690 | 10,618,329 |
| Paper container | Plastic container | Cardboard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2008 | 81,074 |
83,657 |
2,446,418 |
| FY2007 | 80,264 | 105,516 | 4,474,889 |
| FY2006 | 79,481 | 94,705 | 4,684,110 |
| FY2005 | 99,318 | 121,196 | 5,483,551 |
| FY2004 | 167,364 | 90,595 | 5,296,347 |
According to the “Law for Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources *” every PC manufacturer is obliged to recover and recycle used PCs which were manufactured by themselves.
To comply with this law, Sanyo has established a system to promptly recover our used PCs when it is requested by the customer.
In constructing this system, Sanyo designated distributors who can recover used PCs from anywhere I Japan and waste treatment providers who can recycle them.
* Law for Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources
Component |
|
Weight |
Units |
Amount |
Amount |
Re-usage
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Desktop PC |
Business |
29,136 |
2,826 |
29,451 | 22,035 | 74.8 |
Household |
314 |
20 |
||||
Total |
29,450 |
2,846 |
||||
Laptop PC |
Business |
789 |
177 |
942 | 486 | 51.6 |
Household |
152 |
53 |
||||
Total |
941 |
230 |
||||
CRT Monitor |
Business |
7,604 |
793 |
11,608 | 9,027 | 77.8 |
Household |
4,003 |
320 |
||||
Total |
11,608 |
1,113 |
||||
LCD Monitor |
Business |
894 |
119 |
916 | 638 | 69.6 |
Household |
21 |
5 |
||||
Total |
916 |
124 |
* The re-usage rate is the percentage of collected PCs that were reused, by weight.
