Precise separation and processing of recyclable materials
Panasonic’s goal is a circular economy using as few new raw materials as possible and recovering as many as possible from end-of-life products. Ultimately, the company wants to reduce the waste from production completely to zero.
After all, recyclable materials should not end up in landfills, and ultimately in nature. Instead, the goal is to transform them back into raw materials for new products in a circular economy.
Recycled Resin
We aim to use at least 42,000 to of recycled resin (cumulative from FY2020-2022), for example by developing new recycling technologies and products.
Factory Waste Recycling Rate
We will strive to work towards achieving 99% or more for factory waste recycling rate at each factory by fiscal 2022.
Guided by the objective „product to product“
Waste household appliances delivered to PETEC. Waste household appliances delivered by forklift truck are taken to the PETEC warehouse.
In four seperate assembly lines the household appliances product get dismantled, crushed and prepared for their journey back into the production process.
Panasonic is engaged in reusing valuable natural resources through the flow of „produce → use → return → utilize,“ to reduce waste and recycle under the objective of „product to product.“
The role of Panasonic’s recycling company in Japan
Panasonic develops technologies, processes and equipment with which valuable materials are recycled, for example, from discarded household appliances, as efficiently as possible into production materials. At the Panasonic Eco Technology (PETEC) Center in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, high-purity iron is recovered, as well as copper and plastics from old televisions, air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines.
Waste household appliances delivered to PETEC. Waste household appliances delivered by forklift truck are taken to the PETEC warehouse.
Sorting out and recycling plastic is a particular challenge here. Synthetic resins may all look the same, but there are many different ones. Before they can be recycled, they must be neatly separated.
At PETEC, Panasonic has developed a high-precision system that identifies, sorts out and reprocesses synthetic resin grades of high purity. This is made possible by a near-infrared light beam that detects the different types of synthetic resins. In this way, three types of plastic are recovered: polypropylene, polystyrene and ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), with a purity of over 99 percent.
Resin is sorted.
Waste household appliances delivered to PETEC. Waste household appliances delivered by forklift truck are taken to the PETEC warehouse.
Recycled materials are shipped by PETEC. Forklifts transport recyclables loaded into bags.
Transition towards a Circular Economy
Circular Economy implies an incremental change, aiming to transform the way we manufacture and use our products.
A Circular Economy aims to keep products and materials within a closed loop for as long as possible. That means products can be re-used by giving them a second life, products can be shared, and above all they should be designed from the beginning for easy repair and refurbishment, incl. upgrades so that they can be used for longer.
So beyond recycling, Panasonic strongly promotes the transition towards a Circular Economy and has set up a global internal project. Thereby Panasonic is introducing the idea of the circular economy for its own business - and moving forward in efforts to promote effective utilization of resources and maximization of customer value. The circular economy activities at Panasonic have two aspects:
• creation of circular economy businesses, and
• evolution of recycling-oriented manufacturing (including the development of alternative materials)
In practice, the approach is two-fold:
1. On the one hand, Panasonic prepares for upcoming legal requirements such as reparability, recyclability etc., as envisaged in the EU Circular Economy Action Plan.
2. At the same time, Panasonic is working on identifying business opportunities for Circular Economy business models can be discovered. In this context, “product as a service” models - which means to offer access to a product through leasing or renting while the customer buys access – also play an important role. In such cases, the ownership of the product is still with the manufacturers (or retailers), who become service providers and who can then take the product back and give it a second life or re-use parts or the materials.
Related sustainable manufacturing topics
Less CO2 through more efficiency and holistic energy solutions
In general, CO2 emissions increase along with an increased energy consumption. So the most obvious step and most important lever is to reduce energy consumption and increase energy efficiency in the production process.
The avoidance of pollutants in the production process
With the aim of protecting the environment and its customers, Panasonic has developed and implemented its own management system for chemical substances in products, with chemical substances managed throughout the global supply chain, production and use of products.
For more information, please contact
Panasonic Europe B.V
Corporate Communications