In order to realize a circular society, the OMRON Group is working to reduce waste at all production sites worldwide. The Group is working not only to reduce waste generation by minimized and efficient use of resources, but also to promote reuse and recycle.
In addition, starting in fiscal 2022, we are working to reduce hazardous waste emissions.
We also endeavor to reduce the amount of hazardous waste generated.
In addition to setting medium-, long-term, and annual targets for the proper management and reduction of waste, we formulate action plans for the short and medium-term to ensure the effective use of resources globally. We also monitor and analyze waste emissions regularly at each business site to improve waste reduction efforts.
Maintain zero emissions (recycled waste: 98% or higher) at all global production sites
Of the OMRON Group's sites, 23 sites maintained and achieved zero emissions: 11 in Japan, 12 outside Japan, (1 in the Americas, 3 in Europe, 5 in China, and 3 in Asia Pacific).
The Group kept working to reduce waste generation, promoting reuse and recycle, and maintained zero emissions at all global production sites.
Regarding landfill disposal, we seek to minimize the disposal volume by separating waste and other materials generated from production sites into categories suitable for recycling, outsourcing the recycling to third-party companies. In this way, we promote effective use of resources.
We reduce waste by minimizing and streamlining resources used. At the same time, we continue to expand reuse and recycling toward resource recovery.
For example, one of the goals of the Device & Module Solutions business is to reduce plastic waste at production sites. We have improved the manufacturing process for molded parts significantly, and adopted a system to separate used materials and products automatically, removing reusable parts for recycling. The sites reduce plastic waste generated when molding parts through improved production equipment and redesigned molds, which also reduces energy consumption and allows for the use of recycled materials. This system has resulted in a significant reduction in plastic waste by increasing the recycling rate of molded resin.
Through these efforts, we as the entire OMRON Group have been realizing to minimize waste disposed of in landfills.
We have reduced the use of containers and packaging materials 9% (year on year) and 17% (year on year), respectively. These results reflect our efforts to improve logistics and reduce cargo weight in response to growing customer investments in carbon-neutrality and de-plasticization, as well as increasing sales driven by continued demand from the digital industries.
In accordance with the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law in Japan, we will monitor the actual performance of containers and packaging materials and standardize these materials to conserve resources.
OMRON is committed to environmentally conscious designing. It is to design products considering their impacts on the environment throughout their life cycles. Specifically, we set the Omron Group Guidelines for Product Environmental Assessment, and practice these rules in accordance with the Product Environmental Assessment Criteria to ensure that each business and product satisfies the standards set respectively based on the Criteria.
For example, we strive to reduce waste related to packaging and packing materials to solve the single-use plastic problem and the ocean plastic problem. To this end, our Healthcare business replaced plastic materials used for individual thermometer boxes with environmentally friendly paper, while downsizing individual boxes. This effort reduced approximately 95 tons of plastic materials per year. At the same time, the business minimized waste by switching to recyclable resources. The reduction in carton volume and improved transportation efficiency resulted in lower CO2 emissions during transportation and energy savings with less space used in warehouse storage areas.
| FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 98 | 98 | 99 | 98 | 99 |
| Outside Japan | 95 | 95 | 94 | 97 | 95 |
