1. Toshiba's zero emissions

Since 2000 Toshiba has been promoting "zero emission" activities that aim to reduce to below 1% the waste that is sent to land fills, either directly or after intermediate processes. Waste includes by-products resulting from manufacture and sales activities, along with waste that is produced as a result of other business activities.

2. Different places have different ways of treating waste products

Waste products are treated differently in different countries and regions, depending on the local culture and laws. Toshiba Group businesses all use their own means to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - applying what we call the "3Rs principle" in order to promote the realization of a "recycling society".

3. China: Our Dalian facility is a "zero waste facility"

Employees at our plant in Dalian, China are carrying our lively environmental activities with "zero waste facility" as their slogan. Vendors were delivering parts to the factory in cardboard boxes, but switching to reusable dust-proof plastic boxes that can be used over and over again has reduced the amount of waste from discarded cardboard cartons.

4. Don't throw it, use it: making use of things through donation and support activities

Leased PCs are one item of waste that businesses usually throw away. In cooperation with E-parts, an NPO, Toshiba collects and inspects PCs that have reached the end of their lease period. Those that are reusable are donated to welfare organizations or community support organizations, and those that cannot be reused have their parts recycled, hence avoiding waste disposal.

5. Recycling waste products (1)

As polystyrene foam and plastic are made from the same raw materials they are recycled together. When they are recycled, machines are used to compress the polystyrene foam into ingots, which are then pulverized into a fine powder. Once the volume has been reduced they are transported to the re-production factory.

6. Recycling of waste products (2)

Television circuit boards and HDD contain valuable metals, copper and platinum among them. The waste from the manufacturing process, components that did not become products, and all recovered parts from disassembled components, are sent for metal material recycling.

7. Recycling of waste products (3)

At Fukaya Operations, water used in the manufacturing is purified at an on-site treatment plant, and due to a thorough water management process can be discharged back to the river from which it was taken. The sludge that is left by the treatment process is recycled as a raw material for cement.

8. Garbage separation

At Toshiba's Ome Operations, which designs and manufactures hard disk drives and PCs, specialist waste product treatment companies such as Term Corp. carry out on-site operations, creating a system which makes it easy to separate and recycle. And these on-site signs of ingenuity and organization can also be seen at facilities in China and the Philippines, where measures to improve operational efficiency and achieve a change in thinking toward achieving zero emissions at an early stage are yielding results.

9. Each person making an effort

All over the world, people are worried about the amount of CO₂ which is emitted when garbage is incinerated or reprocessed for recycling. At business sites in Canada, ceramic cups which break down and are returned to the earth (nature) are being distributed and reused. And at Ome Operations staff reuse eco-bags for carrying shopping goods. If each one of us has the ingenuity and will to do it, we can reduce the amount of rubbish. Why don't you try the 3Rs too in your daily life?

10. Dealing with waste Navigator: Chelonia mydas (Order: Testudines, super family: Cheloniidae)

All species of sea turtle appear in the rare turtle appendix to the Washington treaty (CITIES, the treaty regulation international trade in endangered species of wild animals and plants) and their names also appear on the red list of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). In one spawning, sea turtles can lay over 100 eggs. However due to the eggs being taken by humans, many young turtles being eaten by other species and other factors, all the estimates show that not many sea turtles manage to survive their first year in the harsh natural world. Even if they do reach adulthood, a large number of turtles are injured by being caught up in rubbish discarded by people or in nets used for fishing. Or they die because of polluted sea water. It is important for us to understand that our lives also have an impact on animals and for us not to forget to be considerate to the planet. (Source: WWF Japan)