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- Integrated Recycling System Contributes to the Creation of a Truly Affluent China
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Fuji Xerox's Integrated Recycling System went online in China January 2008, in step with the nation's efforts to improve its legal and social systems to create a “circular economy.” This highlight depicts Fuji Xerox efforts in China, which is supported by the many people involved.
China's Policy to Create a Circular Economy
China adopted the 11th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 10th National People's Congress held in March 2006. In light of the excessive consumption of energy resources and the rapid worsening of environmental pollution due to waste over the past five years, the plan, which covers the period from 2006 through 2011, aims to shift the nation from economic growth based on the increased injection of resources to economic growth achieved through improved resource-use efficiency.
Chapter 6 of the plan is titled “Building a Resource-Conserving and Environment-Friendly Society” and lists a wide range of measures, including the development of a circular economy, protection and regeneration of natural ecosystems, improvement of environmental protection, strengthening of resource management, and rational utilization of ocean and environmental resources. The government has followed up on the plan by announcing concrete goals and guidelines to promote the creation of a circular economy.
The Environment and Resources Protection Committee of the National People's Congress, which started its deliberations in 2006, drafted the Circular Economy Promotion Law. The law was enacted in August 2008 (during the Beijing Olympic Games) and went into effect from January 2009. This law defines the circular economy as “a general term for the activities of reducing, reusing and recycling in production, circulation and consumption” (Article 2 of the law) and sets the goals of “facilitating a circular economy, boosting resources utilization efficiency and realizing sustainable development” (Article 1 of the law).
The Circular Economy Promotion Law requires entities or individuals engaged in the design of production processes, equipment, products, or packing materials to choose materials and design schemes that are easily recyclable. It also demands that producers not use toxic or harmful substances prohibited by the state. Moreover, enterprises that produce products or packing materials listed in the catalog of products and packing materials for mandatory recycling are obligated to recycle their products and packing materials. In actuality, however, nearly all obligations and responsibilities required of producers are nonbinding targets. In addition, the catalog of products and packing materials subject to mandatory recycling, which is critical to the system, is still limited. Although laws and frameworks used in industrialized countries have been introduced in China, they have only just started to be applied under the Circular Economy Promotion Law.
Fuji Xerox's Integrated Recycling System Goes Online in China
Fuji Xerox Eco-Manufacturing (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. started its operation in January 2008 in Suzhou, China. The Integrated Recycling System aims to achieve “zero landfill”,“no pollution,” and “no illegal disposal” by fully disassembling used copy machines, multifunc tion devices, and car tridges collected from throughout China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan), separating the disassembled materials into about 70 categories at the plant, and reusing the parts and recycling the other materials. This is Fuji Xerox's third Integrated Recycling System, following the ones set up in Japan (1995) and Thailand (2004). With this, Fuji Xerox has finished creating an integrated recycling network that covers the entire Asia-Pacific Region, Fuji Xerox's geographical territory.
Yuji Otake, president of Fuji Xerox Eco-Manufacturing (Suzhou), has played an integral role representing Eco-Manufacturing (Suzhou) in negotiating with the Suzhou City Government since the company establishment. “Before recycling laws and systems were in place in Japan, I used to tell Japanese customers of the importance of Fuji Xerox's Integrated Recycling System,” Otake relates. “I would explain that it was inspired by the recycling movement started in Europe in the second half of the 1980s and developed through the originality and ingenuity of our engineers and sales representatives. Now I can apply that same experience in China. I support the Chinese government's lofty goal of achieving a circular economy, and the Suzhou City Government officials appreciate our efforts and have high expectations for us. This is very encouraging for me.”
Fuji Xerox's creation of an integrated recycling network that transcends national boundaries draws on the recognition that “resource depletion has no national boundaries” and a passionate commitment to ensure “no double standards are tolerated” (introduced as a highlight story in Sustainability Report 2005[PDF:147KB]). To put the core points down in writing, Fuji Xerox has established basic policies and four basic principles for building International Resource Recycling Systems and has shared them with everyone involved.
- Basic Policies for Overseas Implementation
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- As manufacturer, Fuji Xerox directly manages and operates the plant to guarantee no risks
- Assurance of uniform recycling quality as that in Japan
- Aims at reduction of environmental impacts in each country or region
We aim to reduce the environmental impact in the Asia-Pacific region while strictly following these four principles.
- Four Basic Principles
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- Prevent illegal disposal by the manufacturer being responsible for collecting used equipment
- Do not import waste
- Do not create an environmental impact on the importing country
- Provide benefits to the importing country
Evolving Employee Awareness
How did Fuji Xerox (China) employees in charge of sales and maintenance services view the Integrated Recycling System? “Many of the copy machines that I sell are disassembled after their product life has expired,” says Chen Youfa, who oversees Fuji Xerox sales agents in Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou. “The parts are sold, and whatever remains is illegally dumped in suburban areas. This has troubled me greatly. When I heard that the Integrated Recycling Plant had gone online in Suzhou, I was very excited and decided to tell all of my sales agents the news as soon as possible.” However, it is hard to convince sales agents about recycling, because it does not translate directly into profits, but Chen has a strong conviction that recycling is critical for the future of China. “It is important that we do not leave everything up to sales agents alone, but communicate the true value of this system to customers. There are many things that Fuji Xerox should do to speed up these recycling efforts.” Chen continues. “It would be good to place a sticker describing how end-of-life products are collected as well as printing the recycling activities on the outer box of the products. Fuji Xerox should also create pamphlets to explain the system to end users, and conduct tours of the plant periodically.” Chen has started to inspire many colleagues and sales agents with his passion for recycling.
Fuji Xerox (China)'s direct sales representatives who handle individual customers, have started their recycling efforts by asking end users for their cooperation in collecting end-of-life copy machines and cartridges through the company's customer engineers who are in charge of maintenance services. Initially, many sales representatives balked at the idea, saying that resource recycling was not a positive way for the company to distinguish itself and that asking customers to cooperate in collection was extra work. But then, their customer engineers had a lot of contact with end users and were commended for developing strong customers' trust. “I was concerned about whether customers would cooperate in the Integrated Recycling System when I was taught about how it worked,” says Huang Jialong, a customer engineer. “But, most customers cooperate in our collection efforts once we tell them what we aim to achieve. Universities, large corporations, and other customers who are environmentally aware think highly of our efforts and are very interested in recycling copy machines and cartridges. We are proud to be able to tell our customers about the environmental performance of our machines and exactly how they are disposed of.” Employees are steadily changing their perceptions on the Integrated Recycling System as they sense that they are doing something good for the growth of China and the improvement of its people's standard of living.
Expanding Circle of Supporters
President Ren Ping of Suzhou Lanling Office Equipment Co., Ltd., a sales agent of Fuji Xerox (China) in Suzhou City, said that she felt she had found exactly what she had been looking for when she learned about the Integrated Recycling Plant in Suzhou. “In China, used and recycled goods, disassembled materials, and waste are disposed of in ‘inappropriate' ways and are causing environmental problems,” Ren laments. “When I saw the resource recycling line at a Fuji Xerox plant in Japan (Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture) a few years ago, I felt that that kind of system needed to be introduced in China immediately.” After learning that the Suzhou plant had gone online, Ren quickly called together her employees and announced that the company would cooperate in the Integrated Recycling System. She taught those in charge of sales about the recycling program and its goals. Using her own funds, she readied financial incentives and launched the recycling of end-of-life copy machines and cartridges. “End users didn't appreciate the system at first, and some mistakenly thought that we were trying to make money by illegally selling the end-of-life goods collected, ”:Ren continued. “We received a certificate from Fuji Xerox and used it to convince end users that it was a legitimate system. I am pleased to say that we gradually gained their cooperation. ”Ren spearheaded the recycling drive and went around with the sales representatives. She reports that she was able to gain the support of customers not interested in cooperating in the collection work by visiting them many times and repeatedly explaining the system to them. “Fuji Xerox's Integrated Recycling System is the right direction for business and for China. It is crucial that we encourage citizens to value the environment so that this system takes root. I hope the government will take active leadership in this regard,” Ren says. The passion of Japanese manufacturers for recycling has definitely caught on among the executives of our China sales agents.
Remaining Challenges
Fuji Xerox Eco-Manufacturing (Suzhou) has been in operation for a year and a half now, and Otake has set increased reuse of parts and cartridges as the next goal. If the volume of reused parts rises, it will result in a reduction in manufacturing costs and a surplus in environmental accounting. “I hope many customers will respect our environmental efforts,” Otake says. I want to make it a key element in our marketing strategy in China, something that contributes to Fuji Xerox China sales. In cooperation with customers and the government, I will do everything I can to make it into something that can help to resolve China's waste problem.” Otake moves ever forward with his ambitious goal.
“Today China is under pressure to respond to its environmental problem, and the government is also working to create new legislation and improve social systems,” Masataka Jo, who is in charge of sales in China, says passionately. “As manufacturers and sellers, corporations have an important responsibility to society to play a part in these efforts, but awareness regarding our recycling efforts is insufficient today, not only among our customers and sales agents, but also among our employees. It is crucial that we actively tell customers and government officials about our recycling work so that they have an accurate understanding of what we are doing. I would like to increase the amount of parts and materials reused and then pass on the benefits, including the impact of the cost reduction, to customers. That is how I would like to lead the company forward.”
Many people are starting to understand the vision of Fuji Xerox's principles of “no double standards are tolerated” and “resource depletion has no national boundaries .” China is implementing its national policy to create a harmonious society in light of what industrialized countries have learned from the negative legacy of mass production, mass consumption and mass waste. The people of the world need to pool their wisdom and think about how to create a sustainable society. Fuji Xerox and its supporters in China will continue to take up the challenge of creating an affluent and harmonious society in China.
