The depletion of resources due to population growth globally and the issues of marine plastic waste have focused people's attention on the “Circular Economy.” Companies are now expected to work with stakeholders to promote transformation to a business model that does not depend on resource consumption.
The Ricoh Group's concept of a sustainable society is expressed in the “Three Ps Balance,” which describes a society that maintains a balance among the three Ps: economy (Prosperity), society (People), and the global environment (Planet).
Under the Ricoh Group Environmental Declaration, “We proactively reduce environmental impact and strive to improve the Earth’s self-recovery capabilities to achieve a zero-carbon society and a circular economy through business.” We have also positioned the realization of a circular economy as one of the materiality features in the global environment field and set medium- to long-term targets, which the entire group is working toward.
The Ricoh Group established the Comet Circle™ in 1994 as a concept to achieve a circular economy. Based on the concept of the Comet Circle, we have been promoting the reduction of environmental impact throughout the entire life cycle of our products. In consideration of the recent social circumstances, we have established the “Resource Conservation Policy” and “Plastics Policy” to promote more specific initiatives.
Ricoh group has set targets and goals for plastic usage of our products and packaging under consideration of social issues such as “Shifting to a circular economy,” and “Tackling ocean micro-plastic pollution”
For details of Ricoh's climate change activities, please refer to the Ricoh Group Circular Economy Report.
To continuously discuss mid- to long-term issues of the Ricoh Group in the areas of environment, society, and governance at the management level, the ESG Committee, chaired by the CEO, was established in May 2018. The committee meets once every quarter with the participation of Senior Management to discuss the status of initiatives, issues, and investment decisions related to ESG themes, such as zero carbonization, as important themes for management. Its deliberations are regularly reported to the Board of Directors, which then supervises the execution of ESG activities at a high level.
In 2020, in addition to our existing collaboration with procurement, design, production, QA, and sales, we established and activated a cross-functional working group with the participation of members from the ESG department to create a mechanism to integrate indicators and measures into our business and product strategies in line with our environmental targets (in resource conservation).
To achieve a circular economy, we will continue to promote activities that integrate management level and on-site activities in order to accelerate actions such as the reduction of new resource use in products, substitution and reduction of virgin plastic derived from fossil resources, and effective use of used products.
Furthermore, we are promoting collection, reuse, and recycling initiatives globally at our own sites in Europe, Japan, the Americas, Asia, and China. Each Group company has established criteria for selecting industrial waste disposal companies (ISO 14001, 9001, R2, e-Stewards certification, etc.) in accordance with the circumstances of each country, and company manages waste to ensure that it is handled reliably and appropriately by a reliable partner.
The Ricoh Group is promoting thorough resource conservation activities and active utilization of recycled materials with the aim of reducing the new resource usage rate of products to 12% or less by 2050.
Ricoh group has set targets and goals for plastic usage of our products and packaging under consideration of social issues such as “Shifting to a circular economy” and “Tackling ocean micro-plastic pollution”
Specific Targets and Goals for Plastic
Specific targets and goals for plastic |
2021 peformance |
2022 peformance |
Supplementary explanation for actual peformance |
---|---|---|---|
Reduction in packaging materials for virgin plastic derived from fossil resources |
8.6% | 16.2% |
By increaseing the installation onf MFPs and printers, our core products, and expanding the use to supplies, we are steadily increasing the usage in line with the plan. |
Use of post-consumer recycled plastics for imaging products Goals for 2030: Post-consumer recycled plastic content rate of 50% or more |
+5.3% |
Confirming |
Confirming the results |
Display resin identification code and single material use |
ー |
ー |
Completed reflection in the Design for Environment policy document and establishment of rules in 2021. Material labeling and use of single material is expected to be completed by 2025, as targeted |
To achieve a circular economy, it is also important to increase the number of end-of-life products to be recycled. To this end, we have set new targets for the reuse/recycling rate and simple incineration/landfill rate targets for end-of-life recycled products in 2023.
End-of-life Recycled Product Disposal Targets
FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | Breakdown | ||||||
Main unit/accessories | Supplies | Parts | |||||
Collection amount of end-of-life-products (t) | 51,948 | 47,843 | 47,705 | 51,158 | 38,439 | 11,109 | 1,609 |
Reuse/Recycle/Energy Recovery (t) | 50,806 | 46,627 | 46,221 | 49,888 | 37,517 | 10,784 | 1,587 |
Reuse/Recycle ratio | 84.0% | 84.4% | 84.1% | 83.9% | 95.1% | 43.6% | 93.3% |
Energy Recovery ratio | 13.8% | 13.1% | 12.8% | 13.6% | 2.5% | 53.5% | 5.4% |
Incineration/Landfill ratio | 2.2% | 2.5% | 3.1% | 2.5% | 2.4% | 2.9% | 1.4% |
Target:Reduce waste below the previous year's level(FY2023 target: 65,785t)
Data scope:RCL(production/non-production sites), production subsidiaries
For other achievements related to realizing a Circular Economy, please click here.
Design for Environment, 3Rs and Long-Term Usage
Reduce Product Sizes and Weights
Reduction of packaging materials
Expanding the scope of material recycling
New business products that reduce environmental impact
Reuse and Recycling Program and Network
Reuse and Recycling Businesses
Audit of Industrial waste disposal company in Japan