Government Environmental Officials Tour
Recycling Facilities at Keihin Works
Members of the Upper House Committee on Environment and
Environment Ministry officials, led by Committee Chairman Toshikazu
Hori, visited NKK's Keihin Works on July 11 to observe three recycling
facilities in operation there. The fact-finding tour was organized to
promote a better understanding on the latest private-sector recycling
activities and challenges for resource conservation.
The visitors observed NKK's waste plastics recycling
operation, in which municipal packaging plastics are pre-treated and
blown into the blast furnace for use as reducing agents. In 1996, NKK
pioneered integrated waste plastics recycling operation for blast furnace
feed, which has been on a steady business track since April 2000.
Other facilities the visitors toured included the home
appliances recycling plant for televisions, air conditioners, refrigerators
and washers, and the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle recycling
plant. NKK began recycling the four designated home appliances in April
2001 in compliance with legislation. Most of the recovered materials,
such as steel, non-ferrous metals and plastics, are being reused in
NKK's steelmaking processes. In the newly launched PET bottle recycling
operation, collected bottles are sorted, crushed and processed into
PET resin flakes for sale to outside PET sheet and chemical fiber manufacturers.
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