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Eco-Conscious Products
Environmental Considerations within Product Life Cycles
Environmental considerations at all stages of our business activities
Setting ever higher targets for rapidly reducing environmental impact at respective stages
The Brother Group is committed to reducing environmental impact at all stages of the life-cycle of its products. This is the guiding principle of the group's manufacturing activities.
Since respective stages are closely interlinked in terms of environmental impact, continuous efforts are required to make incremental improvements and to achieve technological innovation at each stage (without focusing on specific stages). The Brother Group aims to make such efforts throughout its operations in order to continuously deliver eco-conscious products to customers.
In particular, the Brother Group 2015 Midterm Environmental Action Plan (2011–2015) sets ever-higher targets in respective stages to accelerate efforts. Specific activities include enhancing eco-conscious design processes and green procurement, continuous reduction in environmental impact at manufacturing facilities (such as CO2 emissions and water consumption), reduction in CO2 emissions in logistics (for example, by optimizing packaging), further improvement in energy-saving performance during product use, and enhancement in the reusability, recyclability, and collection system for products and consumables.
Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Reform and Recycle
1. Development and design
Basic policy
Brother products are developed and designed to:
- Comply with laws and regulations of the various countries and regions where marketed;
- Be compact and lightweight to conserve resources;
- Improve energy conservation during use;
- Be free from hazardous chemical substances, defined in the RoHS Directive (in Europe) and the Brother Green Procurement Standards;
- Be easily recycled at the end of life
It is essential to apply at the design stage environmental considerations for the entire life cycle of a product.
For important evaluation items in the following product environmental assessments, target values are set in the initial stage of development and design. Higher values must be set compared with those for products of the previous generation.
Measures
- Brother Industries, Ltd. (BIL) conducts product environmental assessments at key development stages and ensures eco-conscious design by considering the product life cycle from material procurement, production and the products use through to the collection and recycling at the end of life.
Product environmental impact assessments and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
BIL conducts product environmental impact assessments in order to evaluate the impact that products have on the environment. There are 41 assessment items in all. For important items, improvement must be achieved at the product development stage.
Important evaluation items of product environmental impact assessment
(product main units and accessories, etc.)
- Size and weight
- Parts reuse/recyclability, disassembly/dismantling, avoidance of difficult-to-disassemble structures, integration of resin materials
- Hazards during production or use
- Size, weight and recyclability of packaging materials
- Material labeling, compliance with related laws and environmental labels
Product environmental impact assessment flow
For a product environmental impact assessment, we conduct a LCA that quantitatively provides numerical data for the "degree of impact on the environment" at each stage of its life cycle. Environmental load characteristics and improvement points are identified and the improvement effect is confirmed for each product. Evaluation results are released on the BIL Web site showing the products which acquired various environmental labels and the EcoLeaf environmental label managed and operated by the Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry.
Since January 25, 2007, the information is posted on the intranet of BIL and shared with respective departments and business partners to encourage the development of eco-conscious products.
As of May 2011, detailed LCA information is published in-house for 43 products. The Brother Group will continue to reduce the environmental impact of products by using LCA techniques.
Refuse and Reduce
2. Procurement
Basic policy
We check parts and materials that are used to make products, to ensure:
- They do not contain hazardous materials as defined under the European RoHS directive and in accordance to the Brother Group hazardous chemical listing in the Green Procurement Standard.
- They are made via eco-friendly processes.
In this way, we give priority to purchasing eco-friendly parts and materials.
Measures
- Brother is coordinating with suppliers and uses the IT-based Brother Green Procurement Management System to manage data on chemicals and promote the use of alternative parts/substances. This is constantly updated in response to the listed candidate substances of very high concern defined within the REACH Directive.
Reduce, Reuse, Reform and Recycle
3. Production
Basic policy
All manufacturing facilities of the Brother Group have an environmental management system based on ISO 14001. Products are manufactured within that system with due consideration being given to:
- Preventing the waste of materials and energy;
- Reducing pollutants in exhausts and wastewater;
- Preventing the generation of waste and;
- Recycling generated waste.
Measures
- Electrical power consumption and CO2 emissions are reduced by ensuring all manufacturing facilities efficiently run equipment.
- Activities to help prevent the generation of waste sent to landfill
【Brother's activities】 Global warming prevention
Photovoltaic panels at Kariya Factory
The Brother Group works energy conservation measures to meet the targets of;
- *cutting CO2 total emissions by 30% from FY1990 (November 21, 1989-November 20, 1990) levels at eight business sites in Japan and
- *cutting CO2 emissions by 20% (per unit of sales) from FY2006 (April 1, 2006-March 31, 2007) levels at manufacturing facilities outside Japan by FY2020.
Refuse, Reduce and Recycle
4. Packaging and distribution
Basic Policy
Brother is committed to:
- Reducing product packaging and waste as much as possible, and;
- Reducing CO2 emissions in distribution and transport.
Measures
- We are applying simpler and smaller packaging.
- We are simultaneously shipping mixtures of products such as printers, facsimiles and sewing machines to maximize loads.
- We continue to review distribution routes for CO2 reduction.
【Brother's activities】 Adapting to high cube containers
The external dimensions of packages are set to maximize the efficiency of shipping products in conventional containers as well as high cube containers that are increasingly being used, to reduce CO2 emissions in product shipping.
As regards JUSTIO, a color laser multi-function center, the loading efficiency of the MFC-9460CDN (released in 2011) has been increased by approx. 18% compared with the MFC-9450CDN (released in 2009) by reducing the packaging size and employing high-cube containers.
【Brother's activities】 Utilizing railway services to reduce CO2 emissions
Transferring containers onto a freight train trailer
In cooperation with a logistics company, Brother France SAS makes highly efficient arrangements for specific destinations. Containers loaded with products are taken by truck to a rail link where the containers are loaded onto freight trains.
Basic policy
Environmental labels awarded to environmentally friendly products
Consideration for customer use of our products:
- They do not use excessive energy, and;
- People can use our products safely, conveniently and comfortably.
Measures
- We are strengthening development of eco-friendly products focusing on energy conservation.
【Brother's activities】 Reducing CO2 emissions from products during operation
The global warming (CO2) impact of the MFC-9460CDN during operation (a JUSTIO color laser multi-function center released in 2011) is 87% less than that of a 2009 model, MFC-9450CDN (a reduction of CO2 from 435 kg to 56.6 kg*). (The environmental impact calculation is based on the assumption that 48,000 sheets of documents are sent and received, respectively, during a five-year period.）
Five-year CO2 emissions reduced by approx. 87%
JUSTIO, a color laser multi-function center (MFC-9460CDN)
【Brother's activities】 Building energy- and resource-saving functions into products
Multi-function centers, fax machines, and printers are equipped with various eco-conscious functions to reduce the consumption of ink, paper, and power and thereby reduce environmental impact during operation.
Eco-conscious functions enable users to save ink, paper and power consumption
Reuse and Recycle
6. Collection and recycling
Basic policy
As considerations for the end of life of a product, we make efforts to:
- Collect and recycle used products and consumables and;
- Design products so that they are easy to be recycled.
Measures
- Ink cartridges consumed in Japan: The "Ink Cartridge Return Project" is under way in collaboration with printing product manufacturers.
- Toner cartridges, drum units, and P-touch tape cassettes consumed in Japan: Brother's own collection and recycling system is in place.
- Toner and ink cartridges consumed outside Japan: Collection and recycling systems have been introduced in many countries and regions.
- In Europe, products are collected and recycled in accordance with the WEEE Directive. In Australia and New Zealand, products are collected and recycled on a voluntary basis. In Japan, a new collection and recycling scheme is being developed.
【Brother's activities】 Conducting eco activities through the Bellmark campaign (Japan)
Brother Sales, Ltd. joined the Bellmark campaign in April 2011 in order to: (i) actively participate in social contribution activities via support for education and (ii) improve the collection rate of used cartridges and promote recycling.
【Brother's activities】 Promoting the recycle of monochrome toner cartridges
Toner cartridge recycle process
Mie Brother Precision Industries, Ltd. is involved in recycling toner cartridges for black and white laser printers. This process was first done for TN-25J toner cartridges; TN-37J and TN-26J cartridges are now also recycled. To further reduce environmental impact, the company shares information with recycling facilities in Europe and the Americas to develop recycle methods. The company intends to expand its recycling activities to color toner cartridges.
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