PGM* are rare metals that are found in E-Scrap, etc. Group company Materials Eco-Refining Co., Ltd. refines PGM intermediate materials obtained from our Naoshima Smelter & Refinery, to create products such as metals and chemical compounds.
Platinum and palladium in particular are key materials in the automotive, electric and electronic sectors. With that in mind, we applied to register our brand with the London Platinum and Palladium Market (LPPM), as a means of ensuring credibility in the market, and successfully obtained certification in September 2012. We are determined to keep on improving the quality of our products, and make every effort to ensure stable supplies of rare metals.
We use smelting technology for the purpose of recycling at our smelters and refineries. We take in a wide variety of scrap, including shredder dust and used batteries from sources such as used home appliances or scrap vehicles, and E-Scrap from sources such as used substrates and connectors. We then recycle scrap, by using it for raw materials or thermal energy, and recover valuable metals.
Home appliances are made by combinations of various materials such as glass, plastic and rubber as well as metals such as steel, aluminum, and copper. Home appliances are first of all disassembled manually, then crushed and sorted at our home appliances recycling plants*1, which are operated in partnership with home appliance manufacturers. We have adopted several advanced sorting processes for components and materials, and are always trying to create more value from recovered materials and to improve recycling efficiency. We recover copper and other precious metals from recovered copper-based materials and printed circuit boards in our copper smelting process. Thus, we maximize the effect of synergies within our Group. In fiscal 2023, we recycled 2,746 thousand units of home appliances at six plants of our five affiliated companies（6 companies, 7 plants, 3,647 thousand units）*2. Recycling of this volume could reduce landfill disposal equivalent to 121 thousand tons.
We manufacture a range of fluorine compounds at the Group company Mitsubishi Materials Electronic Chemicals Co., Ltd., including materials for use in semiconductor manufacturing, flame retardant and antistatic materials, and hydrofluoric acid.
Since fiscal 2007, we have been engaged in the recycling of fluorine resources in which we recover calcium fluoride waste emitted by companies using fluorine compounds and recycle it back into fluorine resources that can be used as alternative raw materials for fluorite. We will promote the recycling of fluorine resources through further technical innovation.
Waste containing rare metals contains such a high percentage of rare metals that it is possible to extract them more efficiently than obtaining metals from natural resources. A prime example is tungsten, the main raw material used in cemented carbide products. Making the most of the Mitsubishi Materials Group’s comprehensive capabilities as a manufacturer, from raw materials through to finished products, we are currently focusing on recycling used cemented carbide products in an effort to secure stable supplies of raw materials.
Using a burning process that reaches temperatures of 1,450°C, the Group's cement plants detoxify and make effective use of industrial waste and other difficult-to-treat materials without generating any secondary waste. As well as using substances such as coal ash, construction sludge, sludge, incineration fly ash, copper slag byproducts from copper smelters, and gypsum as the raw materials of cement, we also turn materials such as waste plastics, waste tires and wood waste back into cement, by using them as a source of thermal energy.
The Company promotes a recycling business that dechlorinates the incineration fly ash generated when household waste, etc. is burned to recycle it as material for cement.
Kitakyushu Ash Recycle Systems Co., Ltd.
Our unique Mitsubishi Continuous Copper Smelting and Converting Process (Mitsubishi Process) continuously produces blister copper from copper concentrate and recycled raw materials by connecting a series of three furnaces with pipes. As the required facilities are compact and help save energy and reduce costs, they have an exceptionally low environmental impact and produce a copper manufacturing process renowned for its high efficiency.
Raw materials (including wastes and byproducts) are prepared during the raw material grinding process and then sintered at high temperatures to produce a hydraulic mineral during the burning process. Once the raw mixture has reached the maximum temperature (1,450ºC) and a series of chemical reactions are completed, it is quickly cooled into an intermediate product called clinker.
| Item | Total | |
|---|---|---|
| Compared to sending used appliances to landfill and manufacturing new materials from natural resources | Reduction in GHG emissions (CO2 equivalent) |
200,000 tons |
| Reduction in consumption of natural mineral resources | 139,000 tons | |
| Reduction in energy consumption (crude oil equivalent) |
94,000 tons | |
| Reduction in waste sent to landfill | 121,000 tons |
The above table does not take into account the impact of recovering fluorocarbons (refrigerant fluorocarbon in air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines, and insulation fluorocarbon in refrigerators). Expressed in terms of CO2 emissions, recovering approximately 554 tons of recovered freon would equate to a reduction of approximately 1,350,000 tons.
Robot unscrews flat-screen TVs