Building a value chain in the environment business to support every stage of Industrial waste treatment

TSUNEISHI KAMTECS and its subsidiaries are responsible for the TSUNEISHI Group’s environment business. These companies conduct surveys and provide consulting on environment-related needs, such as waste disposal and contaminated soil issues, as well as collection and transportation of these materials. We have built a system that enables integrated waste processing across all stages, from iron and non-ferrous metal recovery, intermediate processing and recycling, to final disposal.

The conventional method of waste disposal has been to incinerate the wastes and then send them to a landfill sites for final disposal. However, the remaining capacity of landfills is diminishing across Japan. Therefore, the Group’s environment business companies are now aiming to support zero landfill disposal. We are doing this by burning and melting incinerator ash for recycling, and by converting sludge and waste plastics into raw materials for cement, or into liquid or solid fuels. With the ever-growing need to shift to a recycling-oriented society, the development of new recycling technologies has become an urgent issue.

Participating in the drive to build a recycling-oriented society, TSUNEISHI KAMTECS started a comprehensive recycling process at its Fukuyama Factory in 2002. This process includes an electricity generating facility equipped with steam turbines powered by thermal energy that is effectively captured from onsite waste incineration. There is also a melting furnace used to recycle the cinders and dust generated by the same waste incineration. In this way, the company has abandoned the conventional waste treatment process of sending incinerated waste to the landfill, and has shifted to waste recycling with the aim of zero landfill waste.

Since 2015, the TSUNEISHI Group has been moving away from conventional landfilling of incinerated waste to the complete recycling of its waste. The focus of this effort has been on expanding the Group’s recycling technology. In order to reduce disposal of incinerated waste as much as possible, we believe that we must acquire all kinds of recycling technology. Therefore, in addition to developing its own expertise, the Group has been acquiring new companies with advanced recycling technologies over the last decade.

A series of acquisitions began in 2011. In this year, Saitama Yamazen joined the Group to become the TSUNEISHI KAMTECS Saitama Factory, which manufactures artificial sand (arc sand) using ash from general waste incineration as the main raw material. Next, in 2013, came the acquisition of SUNNY CREATION PLANNING CORPORATION of Fukushima Prefecture, which crushes and sorts waste and manufactures refuse paper and plastic fuel. In 2015, the Group welcomed FUTABA SANKYO Co., Ltd. of Hiroshima Prefecture, which manufactures organic fertilizer from sludge and food residue using fermentation technology. In 2016, we added TOKO CORPORATION of Hiroshima Prefecture, which produces materials for eco-cement by converting waste plastic into fuel for cement production, and by making raw materials for cement by mixing in sludge and dust. In order to strengthen our handling of recyclable material such as iron scrap, we welcomed Yoshida (Toyama Prefecture) to be one of our Group members in 2022.

Based on collaboration with these companies, the Group is expanding its business with a sense of urgency. The aim is to help build a recycling-oriented society by effectively using various waste treatment and recycling technologies.