Promoting recycling to eliminate landfill waste

Achieved zero landfill waste in Japan

The Brother Group has long been active in waste reduction. As far back as FY2001 (April 1 2001-March 31 2002), our business sites in Japan achieved a zero level of landfill waste generation (landfill waste of 1% or less) and still today efforts continue to prevent the generation of landfill waste at manufacturing facilities. Similarly, at our manufacturing facilities outside of Japan, activities are directed at promoting recycling as well as completely eliminating landfill waste generation. Since FY2003 (April 1, 2003-March 31, 2004 for business sites in Japan; and January 1, 2003-December 31, 2003 for facilities outside Japan), the Brother Group has been using a common format of numerical data for all of our manufacturing facilities outside Japan and our business sites in Japan in order to attain waste reduction targets on a group level. By basing activities on this numerical data, our environmental efficiency with regard to waste discharge improved in FY2008 (April 1, 2008-March 31, 2009) by 30% with respect to FY2003.

Our business sites in Japan have been promoting a zero level of landfill waste generation (a final disposal consignment rate of 1% or less) since FY2001 (April 1, 2001-March 31, 2002) and, additionally, forwarded activities to reduce the generation of waste. Moreover, in our recycle and reuse promotion efforts, we started an activity to recover the paper cups from tea servers and recycle the paper. Meanwhile, a new trading system was put in place for recycling unnecessary office furniture such as desks, chairs, and shelves. Items of office furniture that are not longer necessary in one office are posted on the intranet, and other offices can then apply to obtain them. As a result, the total waste generated in FY2008 was down 13% from FY2007 (April 1, 2007-March 31, 2008), and down 24% from FY2003.

At manufacturing facilities outside Japan, an emphasis is placed on reducing waste in production activities. In FY2008, Brother Industries (Vietnam) Ltd. (in the second year of its operation) worked to obtain ISO 14001 certification, and promoted efforts to recycle and reduce waste. With every manufacturing facility promoting activities to eliminate landfill waste (a final disposal consignment rate of 1% or less), a zero level was achieved at factories of Brother Technology (Shenzhen) Ltd., Brother Industries (Shenzhen) Ltd., Zhuhai Brother Industries, Co., Ltd., Brother Sewing Machine Xian Co., Ltd., Brother Sewing Machine (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Brother Industries Technology (M) Sdn. Bhd., Brother Industries (U.K.) Ltd., Brother Industries (Slovakia) S.R.O., and Brother Industries (Vietnam) Ltd. Major sales facilities also worked on obtaining ISO14001 certification. A format similar to that used at manufacturing facilities was used to identify waste generated, etc. Based on the results, waste reduction activities were launched.

Change in production activity-generated waste volume of the Brother Group

100% recycling achieved -Brother U.K. Ltd.-

In alliance with London's Green Code on purchasing recycled products, Brother U.K. Ltd. has prioritized the purchase of highly recyclable products and services. Activities at worksites include reusing packaging materials and reducing the amount of cardboard waste. As a result, the recycling rate increased by seven percentage points from 93% in 2007 to 100% in 2008.

"Zero Landfill" achieved -Brother Industries (U.K.) Ltd.-

Brother Industries (U.K.) Ltd., which has a recycling center inside its manufacturing facility, serves as the European hub for recycling products and consumables. Since FY2004 (January 1, 2004-December 31, 2004), the company has been carrying out a project code-named "Zero Landfill" (landfill waste of 1% or less). Their unique activities include:

(1) Using see-through sorting bins to prevent incorrect waste separation, and

(2) Exhibiting products made from recycled materials at the entrance to the manufacturing area. By making all of their employees familiar with the types of waste they generate and how that waste can be recycled, staff themselves are finding ways to recycle and reuse waste that cannot be recycled. Since FY2005 (January 1, 2005-December 31, 2005), food waste from the cafeteria has been turned into compost.

In FY2008, efforts were launched to reuse waste toner powder (generated in the process of recycling used toner cassettes collected from customers) as a reducing agent at a steelmaker in France, which has successfully led to "Zero Landfill." Another program was launched in FY2008 to process waste toner powder generated at a recycling center in Slovakia.

Reducing sewing machine paint waste -Xian Typical Brother Industries, Co., Ltd.-

Xian Typical Brother Industries (XTBI) has been working to reduce the amount of sewing machine paint waste in order to both cut costs and protect the environment. Efforts have been made, for example, to reduce the number of defects, improve the delivery rate of paint spray guns, and improve operators' working methods. Before these efforts were launched, paint waste was 5.33 kg for every 100 sewing machines, but the amount of waste has been reduced each year and stood at 4.04 kg in 2008. Meanwhile, XTBI has stepped up efforts under a FY 2007 Environmental Protection Targets Agreement concluded with the Environmental Authority of the Shuzhou Industrial Development Zone (where the manufacturing facility is located). XTBI succeeded in clearing all the targets again in FY 2008, including a minimum 70% recycling rate for industrial water, 100% hazardous waste treatment, and 100% use of natural gas for paint ovens. It should be noted, however, that XTBI reclaims sludge generated when treating waste fluid from the pre-painting process. (The sludge is the only material subject to reclamation at XTBI.) While contractors have been identified in Guangzhou and Shanghai cities to recycle the sludge into fertilizer or cement/brick materials, it is expected to take a little while to expand the scope of recycling efforts in Xian city. Thus, XTBI failed to achieve the target in this regard.

Sewing machine paint waste reduction

 Period subject to each FY

Achieving 53.5% reduction in waste generated per unit working hour
-Brother Technology (Shenzhen) Ltd.-

Brother Technology (Shenzhen) has been working on waste reduction with the targets of i) eliminating landfill waste and ii) cutting the volume of waste handled by final disposal contractors to a maximum of 1%. Efforts were set in motion to replace shipping cartons with rubber returnable boxes, collect used copy paper for backside printing, reuse plastic bags for shipping parts, recover and reuse packaging boxes, and collect and reprocess waste rubber. As a result, the amount of waste generated per unit working hour in FY 2008 fell by 53.5% from FY 2003, while the recycling rate reached 38.3%. It is worth noting that the company reuses sheets of paper that are used to check the print quality in the production process (printed on one side), but the number of sheets is so large that they cannot all be used in in-house office work. For this reason, the sheets are offered to local suppliers free of charge.

Advancing recycling efforts to minimize landfill waste
-Brother International Corporation (U.S.A.)-

In an effort to minimize landfill waste, Brother Tennessee has been recycling various types of materials, including paper, plastics, batteries and wooden palettes.