Recycling rate 99% Waste disposal without throwing away garbage June 14, 17:07

"It's no good as it is."

The third generation of a waste disposal company, which has been in business for 80 years, tweeted when he took over the family business.

It is a lucrative job to get money by accepting garbage, and it is more profitable to have more garbage in the world.

However, I decided to reduce the amount of garbage.

Small and medium-sized enterprises

Keywords surrounding the environment of

"decarbonization," "SDGs," and "ESG investment"

make the news lively on a daily basis.

As the issue of how to create an environmentally friendly and sustainable business is an unavoidable issue for companies, small and medium-sized enterprises in Gunma Prefecture are receiving a lot of attention.

Nakadai is a waste disposal company with about 70 employees.

The annual sales are about 1 billion yen, which is a lot of money to draw from companies.

Change from "garbage disposal company"

The company was founded in 1937, and the current owner is Sumiyuki Nakadai (48), the third generation.

Originally, Mr. Nakadai had no intention of taking over the company, but after graduating from university, he got a job at a securities company.

In 1997, when I was active as a salesman at the Kyoto branch, the turning point was the "Kyoto Protocol."

The Kyoto Protocol sets goals for global warming countermeasures by 2020, after which the Home Appliance Recycling Law and other regulations have started in Japan.

Suddenly, the "environment" has come to the fore.

At the same time, Mr. Nakadai was invited by his father, who was the second generation owner, to join the family business.

It was a waste disposal business that I didn't intend to take over, but Mr. Nakadai decided to join the company.

However, I decided on my mind.

"It will not be a company that only disposes of garbage."

If you reduce the amount of garbage, you won't be able to do it anymore ...

To simplify the profit structure of the waste treatment industry, the mechanism is as follows.

Amount of garbage x Processing unit price-Processing cost = Profit

In other words, the more garbage you have, the more you will earn.

However, Mr. Nakadai thought.

"If you simply try to make money, it goes against solving social problems. I want to reduce garbage."

However, if you simply reduce garbage using the conventional equation of profit, profit will of course decrease.

Can you make a profit while reducing the amount of garbage?

To that end, I thought about "garbage consulting."

You will be rewarded for entering the company and increasing the rate of waste management and recycling.

Even if the total amount of waste we accept increases, we wanted to reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill and incinerator.

"Classification" to reduce garbage

The key to this is a thorough "classification" of waste.

First of all, we have sorted out what is likely to be a product as it is and what is likely to be remade.

Desks, chairs, lockers, etc. from the office are resold as second-hand goods for companies.

A large amount of waste is generated at the timing of office relocation, but it is not wasted.

Table lamps and desk lamps that do not work but look retro-looking are sold to the general public.

In collaboration with an architectural firm, we also remake waste into furniture.

We also manufacture desks with a vaulting box as a fashionable table or bench and a solar panel as a top plate.

By adding new value to waste, we have reduced waste.

However, the amount of waste that can be reused in its original form is limited.

99% recycled

In order not to make it garbage, we have to find something that can be used by further classifying it.

That is where we have developed the technology we have cultivated for 80 years as a waste treatment industry.

Factory employees can distinguish the material from the metal parts brought in, for example, "brass is this part" at a glance.

The classification technology has been further evolved and subdivided.

Even with the same plastic, separate the PET bottle lid and the detergent lid.

Furthermore, even if it is a detergent lid, it is classified by color.

The vinyl that covers the computer wiring is also thoroughly separated by color.

By doing this, it has become possible to sell it as a material for new manufacturing, not as waste.

What was likely to be garbage was priced.

We have created a system that does not throw away waste and recycles 99%.

Decreased profit

However, we increased the number of employees for new initiatives and increased the storage space for detailed classification.

Naturally, a large amount of money is incurred.

The company's profits have declined since around 2007, when it turned to recycling.

I

heard a voice

saying, "You should quit the president

."

The times catch up

But society has changed.

The number of companies that want to avoid producing garbage and want to recycle is increasing year by year.

Tokyo Refrigeration Industry, which mainly installs air conditioners such as air conditioners for corporations, has its head office in Tokyo and is a major company in the industry that deals in the entire Kanto region.

When converted to outdoor units, we handle a large amount of air conditioners, which is about 4000 units a year, but until now we did not know how much the air conditioners after replacement were recycled.

Taketaro Yoshida, President of Tokyo Refrigeration Industry

"As long as we handle air conditioning equipment, we have thought that contributing to the environment is a social responsibility, but we have not been able to manage the recycling rate, and I thought that we should not keep it as it is."

So, the person I spoke to was Nakadai.

Nakadai has been doing "garbage consulting".

First of all, we will sort out the processing companies that have contracted for each business site in each region and bring as much waste as possible to Nakadai.

After that, we will make full use of the know-how of "classification" to thoroughly classify recyclable items.

At this time, we asked the employees to first classify the removed air conditioners themselves.

Separate the plastic, wood chips, and metal into the container prepared by Nakadai.

In addition, parts that can be recycled for money are also sorted.

By not mixing everything, separating it to some extent and then transporting it to the factory, the subsequent work will be much faster and the processing cost will be reduced.

Tokyo Cold Machine has achieved a recycling rate of almost 99%.

President Yoshida of Tokyo Cold Machinery Industry

"Now, interest in the environment, including how to dispose of garbage, is tremendously increasing. It is important to be able to grasp the numbers and show them to our business partners. One of the things to be selected in the future. I feel that it can be a condition. "

We have increased the number of customers by providing sorting know-how and reducing waste that becomes garbage.

Nakadai, which has increased its presence as a “garbage consultant,” has returned to profits over 10 years.

President Nakadai

"We are familiar with all kinds of materials and can classify them in detail. Because we have continued to deal with garbage as a waste disposal business, we have become stronger than anyone else in" throwing away ". We will start business from here for the past five years. It's gone

No waiting for “decarbonization” A sense of crisis for companies

Furthermore, at the moment, "SDGs" and "decarbonization" have become a global trend, and the problem of garbage is inevitable.

At the Nakadai factory, there were signs of cosmetic brands that seemed a little out of place and colorful chairs.

It came from a brand store operated by L'Oreal Japan.

The French-based L'Oréal Group has set a high goal of "recycling or reusing 100% of the waste generated at its business sites" by 2030.

The company has also set a goal for garbage to change all store displays and other items to recyclable designs by the end of 2021.

L'Oréal Japan Representative

"Consideration for the environment is related to the sustainability of the business itself. If you don't move now, consumers won't be able to choose it. You can't go through the conventional method."

Nakadai was also approached by a global company with a strong sense of crisis.

With the relocation of the brand's flagship store, we brought all the furniture and displays in the store to Nakadai and analyzed whether they could be recycled.

The result is "96% can be reused and recycled".

We found that we had to change the design to recycle the remaining 4%.

Person in charge of L'Oreal Japan

"The environmental goals of the company are clear, but I haven't found the part" How "until now. I have found a partner with whom I can work together, so I would like to do what I can do without taboo."

Design "throw away"

Mr. Nakadai has been involved in "throwing away".

I feel that the situation surrounding garbage is becoming more severe.

For example, Japan has been exporting waste plastics overseas, but since the end of 2017, China, which was the largest export destination, has restricted imports, and the export volume is decreasing year by year.

We are in a situation where we have to dispose of garbage domestically more than ever.

"While there is a limit to the processing capacity in Japan, it may be necessary to manufacture

products

that are not thrown away and are premised on reuse."

I collected it.

Companies that manufacture and sell stationery and furniture, companies that sell second-hand books and electrical appliances, and group companies of major trading companies.

Tama Art University has joined there.

Students at an art university repeat trial production of products by reusing waste materials from each company.

From there, we will investigate "what kind of structure should be used to make it easier to reuse in the first place" and give feedback to companies.

The goal is to design products that are easy to reuse, rather than simply throwing them away.

President Nakadai

"We have been working for 15 years to disassemble and classify waste so that it will not be turned into garbage as it is. However, even if we do our best with just one company, the impact on society will be limited. I want to make