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Landfill Waste Sharply Reduced in Fiscal 2004 |
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The NOF Group generated 132,457 tons of industrial waste in fiscal 2004. Of this, 81.6% was reduced in some way at plants, 1.6% was recycled and the remaining 16.8% was sent outside the Group; 11,352 tons of the 22,281 tons of waste emitted was recycled by intermediate processing firms.
As a percentage of total waste, 2.0% was sent to landfill for final disposal, a major reduction from 3.9% in the previous fiscal year. |
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The volume of sludge generated is converted into a solid amount in accordance with a formula used by the Clean Japan Center (CJC), which conducts statistical surveys of industrial waste on behalf of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. |
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The wastewater reduction volume refers to the process that removes water from waste sludge in a filter press. |
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Sludge from wastewater treatment accounted for 90% of the total volume of waste sent to landfill in fiscal 2003. Because of this, the Amagasaki Plant and Aichi Works made effective use of sludge a topic of paramount importance in fiscal 2004. The two main measures implemented to reduce sludge in fiscal 2004 were as follows:
[Amagasaki Plant]
The plant has started recycling sludge using calcination treatment to use it as road material, in cement and in other ways.
[Aichi Works]
A significantly higher proportion of sludge is being used, mainly for soil conditioning through composting.
Currently, these two initiatives have enabled the sustainable recycling of sludge, which accounts for 90% of all NOF waste sent to landfill. |
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 The volume of waste sent for landfill disposal by NOF in fiscal 2004 was substantially reduced by ongoing efforts to recycle sludge at the Amagasaki Plant and Aichi Works. However, because the recycling of sludge only began part way through fiscal 2004, sludge still accounted for a high proportion of the external landfill disposal volume at around 80%. Nevertheless, NOF expects a significant reduction in external landfill disposal in fiscal 2005 due to the recycling of sludge during the course of a full year. |
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As previously mentioned, NOF expects to see a reduction in landfill disposal volumes in fiscal 2005 due to the establishment of sludge recycling methods in fiscal 2004. As long as there is no major change in demand for recycled products, NOF believes that it can reduce the landfill disposal volume to approximately 800 tons/year in fiscal 2005. This would equate to a reduction of 90%, versus the companywide target of an 80% reduction in landfill disposal volume. At the end of fiscal 2005, NOF plans to set a new target to work towards once it has confirmed the actual volume of sludge sent to landfill and whether it has cleared its current target. |
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(Reference)
The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations has set a target for all industries of reducing the volume of industrial waste sent to landfill for final disposal by 75% in fiscal 2010, compared with fiscal 1990.
NOF, however, has set a voluntary target of an 80% reduction over the same timeframe, taking into consideration the voluntary environmental action plan put forth by the Japan Chemical Industry Association. |
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