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Japan is confronted with such problems as the mass consumption of resources and a shortage of landfill sites, so a key issue is now "reducing" in other words, taking care of resources, not producing waste, or reducing it as much as possible.
Nikon Group encourages the reduction and recycling of waste so that the world's precious and finite natural resources are used as effectively as possible.
The Group has defined zero emissions as "final (landfill) disposal amounting to less than 1% of the total amount of waste generated." Using this definition, measures have been strengthened to promote the reduction and recycling of waste. Twelve (12) business units, including manufacturing subsidiaries in Japan, have achieved "zero emissions" to date.
Despite the fact that production has increased, the total amount of waste generated by Nikon in the year ended March 31, 2008, was 2.0% less than the previous year. Having achieved a resource-recycling rate of 97.1% and a final (landfill) disposal rate of 0.51%, it was thus possible to maintain the zero-emission system.
At the Mito Plant, one success has been the in-house development of a compact cleaner that can sort and remove metallic waste, such as aluminum and steel shavings, produced as a result of metalworking processes in the factory. By automatically separating metal and oil with this device, resource-recycling is facilitated, and it has been possible to shorten the time previously spent on this task by 23 hours/year (70.6%).
Nikon's major manufacturing subsidiaries in Japan have been able to reduce the total amount of waste generated by 3.9% versus the previous year, despite higher production. The recycling rate and final (landfill) disposal rate were 90.8% and 0.52%, respectively, meaning that the subsidiaries also achieved zero emissions.
A gasification furnace is deployed at Sendai Nikon. Residue from its combustion is used as subgrade for building roads. A waste compacter at the same subsidiary lowers waste volume and contributes to recycling.
"Discharge, disposal, recycling of waste (Nikon)", "Discharge, disposal, recycling of waste (Major manufacturing subsidiaries in Japan)", "Waste generated (in year ended March 31, 2008) by category (Nikon)" and "Waste generated (in year ended March 31, 2008) by plant (Nikon)" are shown.
