The YAMADA HOLDINGS Group has helped to reduce its impact on the environment in society as a whole by completing the product life cycle within the Group. This has been done by constructing a system to reuse and recycle used electrical appliances collected from customers.
In accordance with relevant laws, YAMADA DENKI properly disposes of waste material from its stores as well as discarded home appliances from customers not covered by the Home Appliance Recycling Act. Specifically speaking, home appliances taken in store are classified into one of three categories: reuse, recycle, or dispose. Products that meet the Company’s criteria are given a new lease of life at reuse plants as reused products and sold at Yamada Outlet & Reuse stores and other stores. As for products that don’t meet the reuse criteria but which can be recycled, these are meticulously sorted at recycling plants and separated into component materials such as iron, aluminum, and stainless steel. This then goes on to be reused as raw materials in lots of other different products. Waste is outsourced to an external recycling company for recycling. Products that cannot be recycled are disposed of in landfill.
Additionally, in the housing segment, wood is preprocessed at factories for more efficient use of resources and to reduce waste.
Going forward, we will increase the number of products that can be reused and recycled by building systems and using machines with advanced sorting functions, leading to a reduction in waste.
Yamada Environmental Resources Development Holdings is engaged in the business of reuse and recycling, reducing waste and its proper disposal, and using recycled materials with a focus on electrical appliances. The Company efficiently collects used products and reuses them wherever possible to resell and deliver on to customers. The Company also comprehensively recycles products that cannot be reused, with the recycled materials used as raw materials for new products.
Regarding the reuse of home appliances, the YAMADA HOLDINGS Group is building a complete distribution network for the reuse of home appliances, from the repurchase of quality products through to recycling and sales, centered on CIC which develops environmental resources. Our reuse centers provide a service that allows customers to purchase reused home appliances with peace of mind by giving every product a thorough cleaning, check and repair, as well as a warranty of up to 24 months from the day the product is purchased. In May 2022, a new plant was built in Gunma Prefecture with the aim to increase production of reused products. The new plant is equipped with an automated warehouses that stores various used home appliances sent from all over the country, as well as an automatic washer for washing machine drums. As a result, production volume in fiscal 2024 is expected to increase from the previous 70,000 units to approximately 186,000 units, moving toward the target of 300,000 units by fiscal 2026. As for the reuse of computers, INVERSENET recovers second-hand computers for resale. Looking ahead, we will continue to make the most of our advanced technological capabilities to increase the number of reused products.
YAMADA DENKI collects used small home appliances at all of its stores based on the Act on Promotion of Recycling of Small Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Small Home Appliance Recycling Act*). After being inspected at Azuma Metal, small home appliances collected at stores are sorted by highly accurate machines that can sort them into plastics, metals, mixtures, etc., to be carefully sorted by material for recycling.
* A law that encourages the formation of a circular economy whereby a government-certified business operator collects and processes electrical machinery and appliances, excluding the four categories of home appliances subject to the Home Appliance Recycling Act (TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators and freezers, and washing machines and clothes dryers).
As well as reusing and re-marketing used home appliances received from customers, materials made from recycled resources are developed into eco-friendly products and then sold. YAMADA HOLDINGS’s private brand SPA products use some of the recycled plastic materials, contributing to the Group’s sustainability. In the future, the Group will aim to develop and sell products in various fields such as housing.
Designed and manufactured in-house, YAMADA HOLDINGS’ SPA products include small ceiling lights which have been on sale since June 2023 as part of an initiative to reduce CO2 emissions. Being roughly 15% smaller than conventional ceiling lights for standard sized rooms of six tatami mats means that less plastic is used per product. Packaging size is also reduced by approximately 26% which can potentially result in less CO2 emissions for transportation. Going forward, YAMADA HOLDINGS will continue to develop eco-friendly products.
YAMADA DENKI donates 10 yen for every used ink cartridge deposited at one of its reusable ink cartridge collection boxes in each of its stores. In the fiscal year ended March 2023, approximately 0.87 million cartridges were collected with 8,842,010 yen donated to the Foundation for Orphans from Automobile Accident. The amount of carbon emissions was also reduced by 65.6t through the collection and sale of ink cartridges.
Since February 2020, YAMADA DENKI has been using electronic shelf labels (electronic prices) for its digital home appliances. Electronic pricing not only reduces the amount of paper and ink used, but also helps to streamline inventory management and reduces workloads for employees.
Electronic Shelf Labels (electronic prices)