TOTO is reinforcing the 3Rs in product design as one of the company's initiatives to value resources. The company aims to minimize the amount of material disposed of through the product life cycle (during manufacturing, after use). To that end, the company is applying the five perspectives of reducing weight,utilization of recycled materials,making materials reusable, making products easy to disassemble, and providing labels that identify materials. This promotes awareness of the 3Rs in design.
TOTO is promoting the use of recycled materials as a 3R measure to reduce the amount of plastic waste in our products.
We are using more than 100 tons of recycled materials per month for plastic parts.
The black parts of the toilet tank are made of recycled plastic, and we have made progress in switching from new virgin materials to recycled materials by more than 80%. In addition, recycled materials are also being used in products other than toilet tanks, such as parts around bathtubs in system bathrooms and parts inside Washlet.
Changes in utillization volume of recycled materials (Monthly average)
Changes in ratio of recycled materials used in plastic components(Sanitary ware tank)
*1 Plastic parts used in Japan during production
*2 Recycled materials: Recycled plastics recovered externally from household appliances, automobile parts and other markets.
Utilization of biomass materials
Utilization of biomass materials, which do not use petroleum as a raw material, is also advancing.
Biomass materials contain substances derived from renewable organic resources as raw materials, and are obtained by chemical or biological synthesis.Since the plants used as raw materials absorb CO2 through photosynthesis during their growth, CO2 emissions can be reduced even when incinerated.
Initiatives for Recycling Washlets (toilet seat with a warm-water washing feature)
We are trying to recycle used Washlets collected from parts of Kanagawa and Tokyo prefectures.
The collected Washlets are manually disassembled after cleaning. Metallic parts and plastic parts are separated. The metallic parts are sold, and the plastic parts are further separated, broken down, or crushed into chips.
Generated recycled plastics was used for everyday stationery items such as ball pens which are used everyday, cover for internal parts in the Washlet and pallets used in logistics. It is recycled as raw materials of the reproduction plastic now.
We will continue to study more effective modes of collection and product designs that allows easier recycling, as well as other applications of plastics.
Flow of Collection (TOM : TOTO Maintenance LTD.)
Flow of Recycling
Product- to- product recycling (from Washlet to Washlet)
Utilization as internal components for some models (for covers of components covers).
Recycling into Shipping Pallets
Plastic components of toilet seats are recycled into shipping pallets that the TOTO Group uses in its sites.
Recycling as Stationery
Utilization of recycled plastics from Washlets as raw materials for parts of stationery or plastic bags.
*The stationery and bags are not for sale.
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