-MATERIAL ISSUE 4- CONTRIBUTE TOWARD A CIRCULAR ECONOMY
KOKUYO Materiality Contribute toward a circular economy
Basic policy
We want to use the planet’s limited resources efficiently in delivering value to customers. Accordingly, we’ve been working to recycle more of our waste and to develop ecologically sustainable products and services. As an organization that provides products that are as accessible to as many people as possible, we also aim to promote individuated zero-waste lifestyles. We’ll engage partners and customers in our efforts to help build a circular economy, one that recycles and reuses rather than wasting.
| Outcome | 2030 challenge goals | 2024 commitment goal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| KPI | |||
| Our collaboration with partners and customers leads the way toward a zero-waste society by reducing, reusing, and recycling. | Over 16% of the Japanese population participates in our programs for building a circular economy, creating positive behavioral changes in society. | At least 80% of net sales attributable to products sold by group (including overseas companies) that support a transition to a circular economy | 100% of new products incorporate circular-economy design principles |
| 100% of waste (office, construction services, inventory) recycled | |||
| We conduct numerous experiments for a circular economy, encouraging more companies to commit. | 100% of suppliers endorse our circular-economy design principles | 100% of key suppliers (some 400 companies) provided feedback (evaluations, issues to address) in supplier evaluation survey | |
| 2022 result | 2023 plan |
|---|---|
|
|
Circular Business Guidelines
Shifting to a circular model in both tangible and intangible aspects
We created the Circular Business Guidelines as an updated version of the eco-batsu initiative, which we have continued since 2008. The guidelines are designed to support closed-loop recycling and reduce recycling speed by reinforcing efforts in use, collection, and recycling. They also emphasize communicating with users and the venous industry (companies that turn industrial waste into reusable resources) to promote a shift to genuinely recyclable products and to develop the maintenance and collection services that underpin closed-loop recycling.
We would like to acknowledge the support we received from the Daijiro Mizuno Laboratory of the Kyoto Institute of Technology and from Re: Public Inc.
Examples of business initiatives
Kaunet: Loopa (E, F, and A in the Circular Business Guidelines)
We launched Loopa, a simple, convenient, and reliable service for recycling office wastepaper. Loopa now collects and recycles paper packs, paper cups, confidential documents, and miscellaneous wastepaper. In 2023, we plan to expand the coverage to eight wastepaper categories. To facilitate the recycling of many more materials, we will incorporate a design-for-recyclability strategy (using design and manufacturing processes that enable recycling).
View press release: https://www.KOKUYO.co.jp/newsroom/news/category_other/20221221kau.html
Furniture Business: Launched 10-year warranty (D)
We started extending our warranty to ten years for the core structures of office furniture so that customers can use the products over a longer period with peace of mind, thereby reducing waste. The ten-year warranty has initially been introduced for some items in our chair series, table series, and storage series.
View press release: https://www.KOKUYO.co.jp/newsroom/news/category_other/20221104fn10.html
Stationery Business: Neo Critz From Fishing Nets Recycling (F, A, and B in the Circular Business Guidelines)
Discarded fishing gear makes up the largest percentage by volume (at around 26%) of the ocean plastics adrift in Japanese waters. We launched a pencil case made in part from old fishing nets. The product is intended to make people more aware and interested in problem of ocean plastic pollution.
View press release: https://www.KOKUYO.co.jp/newsroom/news/category/20220627st.html
In partnership with Alliance for the Blue
Actus (F, A, and B in the Circular Business Guidelines)
Actus is reducing furniture waste in three ways:
- Actus repairs furniture to increase its lifespan.
- When users have no alternative but to discard furniture (such as when the family composition has changed or when they move house), Actus offers to buy back the furniture and upcycle it.
- Actus recycles 100% of worn-out or broken furniture.
Efforts in logistics operations (C and F in the Circular Business Guidelines)
In our logistics operations, we have many circular-economy initiatives: We use simplified packaging, collapsible containers, and returnable packaging materials. We reuse pallets and upcycle some waste plastics into stretch film and other products. We repurchase second-hand furniture. We also minimize the carbon footprint of our logistics network with efficiency improvements such as reducing misshipments, using truck space more efficiently, and embracing the modal shift.
- KOKUYO Logitem: https://www.KOKUYO-logitem.co.jp/sustainability/
- KOKUYO Supply Logistics: https://www.KOKUYO-supplylogistics.com/about/summary/
Sustainable procurement efforts
In 2022, we surveyed 549 suppliers about their sustainability efforts. Of these suppliers, 93% responded to the survey. In 2023, we will feed back the survey results to the suppliers and hold dialogues with some of the suppliers to help them address the concerns.
| Number of suppliers | 549 |
|---|---|
| No. of respondents | 511 |
| Response rate | 93% |
voice
The taskforce’s second year in review
The idea behind the guidelines and how they will be used
The purpose of the Circular Business Guidelines is to encourage customers to engage with us in our circular-economy initiatives. To that end, the guidelines set out a vision and objectives related to customer communications as well as to tangible products. Using these guidelines, we’ll develop tangible products and intangible services with a focus on what happens after the product is delivered and what happens after the customer discards it. We’re still in a trial-and-error stage, but we’re excited about engaging with lots of stakeholders to build a wasteless society.
Stationery Business Division
Technology Development Center
Material Technology Development Group
Daiki Kishimoto
Piloting a stationery collect-and-recycle scheme for schools
Self-righteous corporate activism will never bring about a circular economy. You need something that will keep customers engaged, something exciting that people want to talk about. As well as being a manufacturer, KOKUYO has many logistics operations, and this is where we can create truly engaging services. This year, we’ve formed more partnerships for notebook collect-and-recycle services. We’ll use these partnerships to collect used notebooks, recycle them into new notebooks (in a process known in Japan as “horizontal recycling”), and then hand them to the participating children. The children will experience their stationery being given a new lease of life, and this experience will encourage them to join with us in building a wasteless society.
Kaunet
Product Development Department, Merchandising Division
Development Group 1
Yo Otake
Building circular, long-life offices
The Workplace Business Division creates numerous products with long lifespans and modifiability. These design values underpin a sustainability that’s distinctive to office furniture. We have many loyal customers who have bought many of our products. That’s why we want to ensure that customers can continue to use the products for many years with peace of mind, thereby reducing waste. Accordingly, in 2022, we started extending our warranty to ten years for long-selling products. In 2023, we’ll release a series of updatable office furniture. The products will be based on the furniture our customers already use, but they can be updated to suit the customer’s workstyle and design preferences. We’ll keep offering more options for long-term use while exploring ideas for discarded units that inevitably turn up in the process.
Workplace Business Division
Marketing Division
Value Creation Unit
Miki Kawamura
Related information
Waste output, recycling volume
The volume of waste materials generated by the group’s 31 business offices*1 in 2022 was 20,124 tons (previous year: 21,933 tons), and the recycling rate was 95.9% (previous year: 97.4%). We generated 4,628 tons of waste materials on construction sites (previous year: 4,863 tons) with a recycling rate of 82.3% (previous year: 80.7%). The responsibilities of the prime contractor with respect to the disposition of waste materials generated on construction sites have been clarified, and the obligations of the waste-generating company have been tightened. Efforts were made to contain waste materials in part through a review of the methods by which parts subject to processing at construction sites are ordered. As waste materials generated on construction sites are not homogenous, there are many cases in which recycling is difficult due to the intermingling of various types of waste materials in a given batch. Nevertheless, we will continue to properly dispose of waste materials in conjunction with the implementation of controls on their generation and aim to achieve our target of 100% for the rate at which waste materials are recycled.
View ESG data (resource conservation and recycling)
Office efforts
In 2022, our offices produced 1,185 tons of waste (compared to 795 tons in 2021) and recycled 82.3% of waste (compared to 97.8% in 2021). The increase in waste and reduction in recycling occurred because disposal of inventory assets prompted a spike in industrial waste. Although there is a limit to what an office can do, our office staff are doing their bit by separating waste and going paperless.
Plant efforts
In 2022, our factories produced 10,620 tons of waste (compared to 10,684 tons in 2021) and recycled 96.8% of waste (compared to 96.9% in 2021). Since 2009, our Japanese production sites produce zero emissions over a ten-year period when disposing of waste. Overall, they recycled 99.1% of waste (compared to 99.2% in 2021), because plasterboard at Mie plant is now reused (material recycling) instead of being burned for energy (thermal recycling), resulting in a slight increase in residues. Shibayama Plant recycled 96.2% of its waste. The plant generates glass waste in varying volumes, making it unfeasible in some cases to recycle the waste. In these cases, the waste gets sent from the intermediate site to a final disposal site (i.e. landfill). Corrective measures are being taken so that the plant can return to net-zero emissions. In 2022, our overseas production sites recycled 91.0% of waste (compared to 90.3% in 2021). We encourage each of these sites to reduce and recycle, while taking into account local recycling standards.
Efforts in distribution channels
In 2022, our distribution channels produced 8,318 tons of waste (compared to 10,454 tons in 2021) and recycled 96.6% of waste (compared to 97.9% in 2021). Cardboard and wooden pallets used in packaging are repaired and reused. We will continue our active efforts to use resources effectively.
KOKUYO products: Reuse, recycle
KOKUYO Logitem runs a collect and reuse/recycle scheme. After delivering products, the company offers to take away the customer’s disused products so that they can be reused and recycled according to their condition. In 2022, KOKUYO Logitem collected around 2,474 tons of used office furniture (desks, chairs, and so on). Around 176 tons of the collected furniture was salvaged for reuse. The remainder was dismantled and sorted for recycling.
Databank: Resource Conservation and Recycling
A desk being dismantled and sorted
