Harmony with Nature
Reducing Waste
Since fiscal 2001, Alps Electric has implemented a “zero-emissions(*1) initiative,” which is aimed at recycling all wastes from offices and production plants. This target was successfully achieved by the end of fiscal 2004 throughout all domestic divisions.
During the Sixth Medium-Term Action Plan for Environmental Preservation we will continue to reduce waste volumes as well as aim to improve our recycling rate by beginning to recycle some waste types that had previously been excluded from our initiatives.
We achieved an improvement in our recycling rate during fiscal 2010 and decreased both real waste volumes and discharge per unit of production output by making improvements to production processes.
(*1)Zero-emission: A recycling-oriented social system that eliminates all kinds of wastes by effectively recycling them into raw materials and other useful purposes; advocated by the United Nations University in 1994.
Initiatives at Bases
Alps Electric Korea Co., Ltd.
Alps Korea used to incinerate waste oils like organic solvents, but now these oils are used effectively as fuel by cement plants after refining by an intermediate contractor. As a result, the company has managed to both reduce the amount of pollutants released during incineration and reduce the costs of disposal.
Headquarters
A box placed in the office for collecting caps
Since 2008 Alps Electric Headquarters (Tokyo) has participated in the “Ecocap Movement” where caps from plastic bottles are sold to recyclers and their proceeds donated through the Movement’s organizing body to the Japan Committee for Vaccines for the World’s Children. The money is then used to buy various vaccines for children of developing countries and in fiscal 2010 Alps Headquarters collected 236,324 caps – enough to supply vaccines for 176 children.
Management Team
Kim Yongweon
We used to burn specified waste items like waste oils with high water content, but this led to the release of secondary pollutants and the costs were considerable. Most organic solvent recyclers in the Gwangju–Jeollanam area, where Alps Korea is located, operate on a small scale, while the option of using recyclers in other areas was hindered by the time restraints of long distances, and disposal costs. The changes we made were worth it, not solely because we are now able to dispose of waste oils (e.g. organic solvents, lubricants, cutting oil, coatings, thinner) and other waste items with diverse properties generated by Alps Korea without the expense, but also because recycling the waste eliminates the release of secondary pollutants.