Tokyo, August 9, 2000 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC) today announced that it has achieved zero levels of waste products for landfill disposal at all of its domestic manufacturing facilities* as of July. This achievement comes 18 months ahead of the original target of March 31, 2002.
In September 1999, Honda's Suzuka factory became the first facility in the Japanese automobile industry to achieve zero levels of waste products for landfill disposal. HMC's Saitama and Hamamatsu factories followed suit in March 2000 and the Tochigi and Kumamoto factories completed the zero levels landfill program at all Honda domestic manufacturing facilities in July.
To realize zero levels of waste products for landfill disposal, the following steps were taken:
- The amount of industrial waste was reduced
- Recycling of materials at each manufacturing stage was increased
- Waste materials were sorted for reuse
- Improvements were made in the thermal recycling of materials which cannot be reused
This achievement is the latest example of Honda's corporate commitment to global environmental issues. It will reduce the impact of its business operations on the environment at each stage, from development through to the disposal of products.
In April 1998, Honda announced its Green Factory Concept, which intensified its commitment to environmental activities related to manufacturing. Realizing zero levels of waste products for landfill disposal was one of the aims of this concept.
Honda will continue to improve its resource efficiency. It also aims to strengthen efforts to minimize the impact of its business on the environment by improving recyclability, and aims to pay particular attention to the unification of plastic resin materials, and the reduction of the amount of waste for incineration.
- *Honda's domestic manufacturing facilities are located in Suzuka (Mie Prefecture), Sayama and Wako (Saitama Prefecture), Hamamatsu (Shizuoka Prefecture),Kumamoto (Kumamoto Prefecture) and Takanezawa and Moka (Tochigi prefecture).