The entire Mabuchi Group is taking on the challenge of "Zero Emissions" in an effort to produce a recycling society, one in which waste is recovered and reused in the form of resources to reduce landfill waste. Taking on the challenge of "Zero Emissions," Mabuchi Motor reduces incinerated and landfill waste and promotes reuse (recycled use), aiming to reduce the percentage of incinerated and landfill waste to 1.0 percent or below. In order to achieve this goal, in addition to reducing the generation of waste, it is essential to convert generated waste into usable resources.

Thorough Separation

Separation of waste is essential for recycling. To promote thorough separation that is easy for everyone, we post signs on separation in prominent locations and establish places for people to leave wastes.
For disposal of motor materials as resources, parts are separated by type of material and processors are selected for each material. While we have contracts with two recycling companies in Japan, some materials at overseas factories cannot be recycled and we are trying to find processors for these.

Efforts in Head Office

Recycling of Waste

In fiscal 2006, Head Office undertook recycling of kitchen waste and, after locating companies dealing in the recycling of such waste, had the kitchen waste recycled into feed and compost, thereby achieving a related recycling rate of 100%. While fallen leaves and small branches at the Head Office were previously disposed of through incineration, 100% is now recycled into compost.

Recycling of Biotope

Moreover, in fiscal 2007 we found a recycling contractor and properly disposed of about 4.6 tons of sludge generated from the biotope cleanup work at the premises of the Head Office, thereby preventing the sludge from becoming an environmental burden. We will continue to recycle sludge produces by annual cleanup work to reduce enviromental burdens.

Efforts in Factories

Reducing Waste in the Production Process

Chamfering is provided to the tip of the shaft(*1) so that customers can affix various parts to it easily. In the past, the tip of the shaft was processed using a stone that had a grinding effect, producing a large amount of grinding sludge which was disposed of as industrial waste.
Our conversion from the conventional grinding process to the forging process in terms of waste reduction meant we generated 80.4% less sludge, from about 8.6 tons in previous years to 1.7 tons this year.
The significant reduction in sludge generation made it possible to simplify our wastewater treatment equipment. We will continue to promote our activities for waste reduction based on Mabuchi Group's Basic Environmental Policy.

(*1) Shaft : an important part that takes out rotation output from the motor and transmits the power to the unit.

Efforts in the Logistics Field

Recycling Packing Materials

As an effort to reduce waste, Mabuchi Motor is promoting the recycling of polystyrene packing materials used for delivering products to customers. We recycled about 7 tons of polystyrene packing materials in fiscal 2007.
Recently, we have also been promoting the use of "returnable containers," which can be used repeatedly, to further reduce waste.
We are currently working to establish a system to collect and treat packing materials at various locations close to customers, including in Japan, to minimize CO2 generation during their collection and transport for recycling.