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Eliminating plant waste to keep the Earth clean
"Zero emissions" means eliminating waste completely by using the waste from one industry as a raw material in another. First put forth by the United Nations University in 1994, it is a concept that aims to reduce waste and byproducts from industry as a whole to an absolute minimum. In November 1996, Asahi Breweries attained the goal of zero emissions at its plant in Ibaraki, which is very close to Tokyo. In November 1998, the company attained the zero-emissions goal at all of its plants. And this does not only mean that all industrial wastes produced at its plants are recycled, but that all types of waste, including ordinary items such as used fluorescent light bulbs and paper waste generated in offices, are recycled as well. For years, Asahi had been making efforts to reuse industrial wastes, including using excess yeast in pharmaceuticals and foods-after processing it at pharmaceutical and food plants-and reprocessing cans. Through these efforts it had achieved an overall trash recycling rate of 98.5%. In order to attain the goal of zero emissions, it conducted studies to identify what plant wastes were not yet being recycled and then sought out a specialist to undertake the recycling of these wastes, by type of raw material, and contracted this work to them. 
When processing wastes it is important to sort the wastes by type of raw material. Unless the sorting work can be performed simply, it is a meaningless effort since sorting must be performed by all employees. Asahi attained the goal of zero emissions by making the sorting process as thoroughgoing as possible by having wastes collected by type. Considerable attention has been focused on environmental problems in Japan ever since December 1997, when the Third Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP3) was held in Kyoto. In step with this, attention in Japan has come to focus on environmentally friendly zero-emission factories and now numerous factories and companies are working to achieve this goal. Photo: Asahi's Ibaraki Brewery (Asahi Breweries, Ltd.) Unauthorized reproduction of thephotos in this page is prohibited. |
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