Resource Circulation

Goal 12 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations in September 2015, is ‘Responsible consumption and production’. The actions that organizations are urged to take in order to meet this goal include the efficient use of natural resources, the appropriate management of chemical substances and waste products throughout the entire product life cycle, and significant reductions in the volume of pollutants emitted into the air, water, and soil. The European Commission also announced its Eco-Design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) in June 2024, not only expanding the ESPR product scope, but also establishing performance requirements such as recyclability, durability, repairability, and use of recycled materials. With the increase in product sustainability requirements, the ESPR will also introduce Carbon Footprint to provide environmental impact assessment information and a Digital Product Passport (DPP) to ensure traceability throughout the product life cycle. The requirement for more efficient use of resources is increasing worldwide. For example, in the U.S., more and more states are passing Right to Repair laws, while in Japan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is working on building a Circular Economy Information Distribution Platform.

Since the 1990s, the Fujitsu Group has had a long-standing commitment to the 3Rs of resource management: reduce, reuse, recycle. We have promoted measures such as reducing the number of parts in our products and making them smaller, thinner, and lighter. We have also focused on the reuse of resources from used ICT products and waste generated at our business sites. Since reuse of resources from used ICT products has been a past target of our Environmental Action Plan, and we have now achieved a reuse rate of over 90% for business-use ICT products, our efforts are currently continuing as an internal target.
Recently, the push towards the "Circular economy" is gaining momentum worldwide. In particular, the adoption of the abovementioned ESPR has prompted a wave of discussion around resource recycling, including such topics as the reuse of waste as a resource, improvement of product recyclability and the use of recycled materials. There is also an urgent need for measures to address the problem of plastic waste.
In light of this situation, and building on our foundation of existing initiatives, the Fujitsu Group will target the use of reusable plastics in ICT products, and a switch to paper instead of plastic packaging materials. Although changes in our business structure have led to a reduction in overall waste generated, we remain dedicated to further reducing waste and strengthening our recycling and resource utilization efforts to further contribute to a more recycling oriented society. In addition to company-wide measures such as resource-conserving products, we will consider circular economy business models tailored to the characteristics of individual products, and place greater emphasis on designing products tailored to these new business models.

Given the growing environmental challenges posed by plastic waste, both in Japan and globally, there is a need for immediate measures to promote plastic resource recycling, including rationalizing their use, municipal recycling, and establishing systems to encourage voluntary collection and recycling by businesses.

Designated a “high-volume waste emitter” under the legislation, Fujitsu has established targets for reducing and recycling plastic waste and is implementing activities in line with those targets.

Target: Promotion of zero-emissions activities for plastic waste and greater use of returnable plastics
FY2024 waste plastics emissions: 1.5 thousand tons