Products Recycling

Based on the concept of "from products to products," the Matsushita Eco Technology Center (METEC) conducts research into making home appliances more recyclable and develops recycling technologies to gain resources from end-of-life products. All sections of Panasonic and its group subsidiaries receive feedback from the R&D programs conducted at METEC into designing easy-to-dismantle products, disassembly technologies and related work on materials. The results filter down into a wide range of products. At the same time, Panasonic operations worldwide are engaged in activities aimed at achieving "zero waste emissions" for all types of waste by reusing products and recycling resources. In fiscal 2007, we recycled a total of around 670,000 appliances. METEC also works to educate the public by disseminating and sharing information. In its six years of operation, a total of 58,000 people from around the world visited METEC.

Since our voluntary disclosure in January 2003 that capacitors containing PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl) had been buried at some sites in Japan, group-wide efforts have focused on implementing emergency safety measures, excavating the buried materials, instituting appropriate control measures and informing the authorities of such activities. In December 2005, we completed registration with the Japan Environmental and Safety Corporation (JESCO) of all quantities exceeding 10kg of transformers and capacitors containing insulating oil with PCB traces (JESCO is the body charged with processing PCB wastes). Currently registration procedures remain ongoing only at Panasonic Electronic Devices Matsue Co., Ltd., and are due to finish in 2008. In addition, Panasonic became the first private-sector firm in Japan to complete a successful soil remediation verification process, which was conducted during a five-month period starting in May 2005. Efforts continue to make progress with soil remediation programs at all sites where PCB wastes are stored.