Recycling Rate Boosted 4 Percentage Points in Fiscal 2004

The NOF Group used 6,207 thousand m3 of water in fiscal 2004, largely the same as the previous year; actual usage declined 0.3% year on year. NOF CORPORATION used 5,479 thousand m3 of water, a 22 thousand m3 reduction year on year, despite an approximate 6% year-on-year increase in production volume. This was the result of efforts to improve techniques for purifying water to save water.

The volume of public water used in fiscal 2004 rose 705 thousand m3, or 7%, year on year in line with an increase in production. NOF is planning to introduce hollow fiber filtration equipment to produce water with the same level of purity as public water from industrial-use water, as it examines ways to reduce the usage of public water, which is purified using energy and other resources. This is in a bid to comprehensively use water in a manner that has a low impact on the environment.

The NOF Group recycled, both internally and externally, 13,487 tons of industrial waste generated in fiscal 2004, giving a recycling ratio of 10.2%.

While examining ways to reduce the generation of waste itself as its first priority, NOF also continues activities to effectively use, to the greatest extent possible, any waste that it does generate.

In fiscal 2004, the volume of waste recycled increased sharply due to progress made with recycling sludge at the Amagasaki Plant and Aichi Works.

In fiscal 2004, ¥22.8 million was generated in sales from the recycling of industrial waste, an increase of more than ¥3 million over the previous fiscal year. The main components of this were as follows:

Recycling of product containers
Containers made from polyethylene are collected from customers after use, pulverized and then reused as materials for plastic containers. The sale of this material generated sales of ¥11.7 million in fiscal 2004.
Recycling of edible oil waste
Waste generated from the manufacture of edible oils is recycled, processed and reused as a fertilizer feedstock. The sale of this material generated sales of ¥1.9 million.

In addition, NOF recycles inorganic acidic solutions, converts waste oil into firework oil and recycles waste in other ways.

As a manufacturer of intermediate materials, NOF does not have many products subject to the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law. However, to fulfill its corporate social responsibility, NOF submits expected volumes of glass, plastic and paper containers and packaging that must be recycled by law to The Japan Containers and Packaging Recycling Association (JCPRA), with which it has a recycling contract.
*In fiscal 2004, the JCPRA recycling contract fee was ¥182,000.

NOF is also working to reduce containers and packaging by eliminating products packaged in small lots and through other means, as part of active efforts to reduce its environmental footprint in logistics.