Toray Group is redoubling initiatives to improve recycling rates and achieve zero emissions as part of larger efforts to bring about a recycling-based society.
Despite reduction activities such as process stabilization and recycling of waste products, the total volume of waste generated by Toray Group grew 5,000 tons over the previous year to 9,300 tons, approximately 7,000 tons of which were due primarily to increased production. Key reduction activities included the construction of a sludge dryer at the Okazaki Plant to reduce waste volume, efforts to increase throughput at TFC's Chiba Plant wastewater treatment facility to reduce the volume of wastewater that must be treated at outside facilities, and the achievement of more stable production at Indonesia Toray Synthetics through enhanced cleaning at the company's facilities to reduce yarn waste.
During FY 2006, Toray Group reduced landfill waste by 3,000 tons compared to the previous year to 19,000 tons. Toray's landfill rate for FY 2006 was 2.0%, marking the fourth straight year we have achieved the target of 5.0%. Japanese subsidiaries and affiliates met targets for the second straight year with a landfill rate of 3.8%.
Our recycling rate improved 1.9% over the previous year to 93.0%, barely missing the target of 95%, while Japanese subsidiaries and affiliates posted a recycling rate of 83.3% to meet the target of 75% for the second year in a row. The recycling rate for overseas subsidiaries and affiliates was 65.7%, an improvement of 0.8% over the previous year.
Note: Overseas figures do not include Toray Saehan, which began tracking waste statistics in FY 2006. The inclusion of data for Toray Saehan improves the overseas recycling rate to 73.9% and the landfill rate to 50.3%.
Toray Group defines zero emissions as a waste stream where simply disposed waste accounts for 1% or less of total waste generated, and each of our Group companies and plants works to achieve zero emissions by pursuing waste reduction activities. During FY 2006, 4 plants achieved zero emissions for the first time to bring the total to 13 plants at 9 companies, an increase of 2 plants over the previous year.
Initiatives at Opelontex Co., Ltd.
Building on ongoing recovery and recycling of materials including yarn waste and waste paper tubes, we achieved zero emissions by implementing thermal recycling of waste cloth contaminated with machine oil.
Initiatives at Maruichi Fiber Co., Ltd. (Nou Plant, Itoigawa Plant)
We achieved emissions by augmenting existing recycling of materials such as waste yarn with efforts to utilize a neighboring recycling center to generate electricity from waste incineration and to recover and recycle unburnable waste as a raw material for cement production.
We share innovations at plants that have achieved zero emissions among Group companies and plants to enable more companies and plants to achieve that goal in the future.
(Colored companies and plants achieved zero emissions for the first time during FY 2006.)
