Waste Management

In part due to performance growth in the analytical and measuring instruments and industrial machinery segments during FY 2022, the total amount of unwanted waste (the total of waste materials for disposal and metal scrap and other valuable materials for resale) from key Shimadzu business and research facilities in Japan increased by 4.4% (year-on-year) to 5,895 tons. The total amount of waste materials for disposal increased by 9.1% (year-on-year) to 2,319 tons. Of these amounts, industrial waste from products using plastics was 483.3 tons (117% compared to 412.9 tons in the previous year). Although we failed to achieve our goal of reducing waste to below the previous year’s level due to the increase in packaging-related waste from higher production, we have been promoting initiatives such as material recycling of plastic packaging materials.Shimadzu’s waste management goal is to achieve a recycling rate of at least 99% (= (amount of unwanted waste - amount of final landfill disposal) / amount of unwanted waste).The recycling rate in FY 2022 was 99.67%, which was achieved for 13 consecutive years.The Shimadzu Group is committed to compliance with laws and regulations and the promotion of the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse,Recycle) in each workplace in order to make effective use of the earth’s limited resources and contribute to building a recycling-oriented society. We have also established and implemented internal rules and procedures to ensure legal compliance, such as appointing eco/industrial waste leaders at each workplace to promote waste separation and recycling,manage manifests,and conduct investigations, including on-site visits of waste disposal contractors.

Shimadzu recycles its waste plastic packaging materials into containers for collecting waste liquids to promote resource circulation and environmental sustainability. This is being done in cooperation with local communities and has been adopted and implemented by the FY 2022 Kyoto Prefecture 3R technology development support project (in the research and technology development field).
In FY 2022 we collected used plastic packaging materials and worked with a partner company to produce 1,000 polyethylene containers made from 30% recycled pellets for in-house use.
This initiative, which was a shift to material recycling to improve the quality of resource recycling, has led to collaboration with academic and research institutions that generate large amounts of liquid waste. We have concluded a“ Comprehensive Collaborative Agreement” with Ryukoku University to contribute to the creation of a recycling-oriented society, and the university will participate in this initiative.

One of the environmental activities that all employees can participate in is sorting paper waste from offices and plants. Sorted and collected paper waste is recycled into unique notebooks for reuse by employees. Having employees experience the benefits of environmental activities in such a tangible way helps them become more aware of environmental activities.

Transformers, capacitors, and other devices containing highly toxic PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are disposed of in accordance with the Japanese Act on Special Measures Concerning Promotion of Proper Treatment of PCB Wastes. (PCBs are particularly toxic to biological organisms because they are highly persistent and bioaccumulative.) Of the PCB waste materials owned by Shimadzu, Shimadzu started processing transformers and capacitors, which contain high PCB concentrations, in FY 2013 and will finish processing all the PCB waste within the time frame specified in the Japanese Act on Special Measures Concerning Promotion of Proper Treatment of PCB Wastes.
Meanwhile, Shimadzu Techno-Research Inc., a Shimadzu Group company, offers an easy method for analyzing the quantity of trace PCBs in two types of insulating oil. This measurement technology is able to quickly and inexpensively provide highly reliable measurement values and was even included in the Manual for Simplified Measurement of Trace PCBs in Insulating Oil (3rd edition), published by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment in May 2011.

At a Shimadzu Group company in the UK, employees have been actively involved in implementing environmentally-friendly reusing practices. One such measure is the “reusable supplier delivery container project,” which involves using reusable packing boxes to transport purchased parts or service parts from suppliers. The container was designed in cooperation with suppliers based on operations during production. Using the containers, which are designed specifically for packing the given parts, offers a wide range of benefits, such as reducing expenses from damage during transit and from less disposable corrugated fiberboard box waste.