The Mitsubishi Materials Group is a complex corporate entity encompassing a wide range of technologies and expertise, from resources upstream to materials midstream to processed products downstream. We have continued to make the most of those capabilities on a Group-wide scale, in an effort to establish a recycling-oriented business model based on recovering resources from a wide range of waste products.
We strive to create cyclical value chains in each of our businesses, so that resources and materials are processed into products and then recycled back into materials. This also helps to promote recycling-oriented social systems (Circular Economy).
We will achieve growth throughout the value chain to expand resource recycling. We will achieve this by leveraging our strength in advanced dismantling and separation technologies in the home appliance recycling business, along with recycling technologies in the smelting business, expanding the range of items to which these technologies are applied, the regions in which we operate, and the scale of operations.
In the recycling of metal resources, we will recover used or discarded products, disassemble or separate them, input the materials into smelting or other processes to extract useful metal elements, then process or fabricate those elements into high-performance materials and products that will be supplied to the market.
In this way, we will design and build a circulatory system for resources through “veins” that circulate resources, “arteries” that supply high-performance materials and products, and once again through “veins” via the market. At the same time, the Renewable Energy Business will supply the renewable energy-based power it has generated to the entire business, contributing to progress in reducing greenhouse gases on the way to achieving carbon neutrality.

Our unique Mitsubishi Continuous Copper Smelting and Converting Process (The Mitsubishi Process) continuously produces blister copper from copper concentrate and recycled raw materials by connecting a series of three furnaces with pipes. As the required facilities are compact and help save energy and reduce costs, they have an exceptionally low environmental impact and produce a copper manufacturing process renowned for its high efficiency.

• Capacity to treat large volumes of waste
• Detoxification of waste products
• No secondary waste (extending life span of final disposal sites)

If recycling home appliances is conducted, so that resources are recovered from used appliances and reused as new materials.

The above table does not take into account the impact of recovering fluorocarbons (refrigerant fluorocarbons in air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines, and insulation fluorocarbons in refrigerators). Expressed in terms of CO₂ emissions, recovering approximately 541 tons of recovered freon would equate to a reduction of approximately 1,080 thousand of tons.

Using copper concentrate from environmentally friendly copper mines and leveraging the competitive edge of the Mitsubishi Continuous Copper Smelting and Converting Process, we operate a recycling business that boasts world-leading processing capacity, thus ensuring the steady supply of cleaner non-ferrous metal materials to society. While copper and precious metals grow more important reflecting various shifts such as EVs, IT, and decarbonized society, we fulfill our responsibility to supply materials with environmental considerations, thus contributing to the development of society and realization of a sustainable society.

Tungsten, the main raw material used in cemented carbide tools, is a type of rare metal considered politically important for ensuring stable supply. Tungsten ore mines are unevenly distributed in some countries and regions, and there are risks of sharply rising prices and availability issues due to instability in international relations. We will actively promote the recycling of used cemented carbide tools and continue to ensure the stable supply of tungsten in the future.

We use smelting technology for the purpose of recycling at our smelters and refineries. We take in a wide variety of scrap, including shredder dust and used batteries from sources such as used home appliances or scrap vehicles, and E-Scrap from sources such as used substrates and connectors. We then recycle scrap, by using it for raw materials or thermal energy, and recover valuable metals.

Automated robotic picking of dismantled parts

Waste containing rare metals has a high concentration of valuable materials, enabling rare metals to be recovered more efficiently than from natural resources. Recognizing that tungsten is a critical resource used in a wide range of applications, including cemented carbide tools as well as semiconductor and electronic materials, the Mitsubishi Materials Group leverages its integrated production system spanning from raw materials to finished products, together with a site network centered on Japan and Europe, to promote the global recycling of used products and scrap. Through these efforts, we contribute to the advancement of resource recycling while helping to ensure a stable supply of raw materials and mitigate supply risks.

We manufacture a range of fluorine compounds at the Group company Mitsubishi Materials Electronic Chemicals Co., Ltd., including materials for use in semiconductor manufacturing, flame retardant and antistatic materials, and hydrofluoric acid.Since the fiscal year ended March 2007, we have continued to engage in the recycling of fluorine resources in which we recover calcium fluoride waste emitted by companies using fluorine compounds and recycle it back into fluorine resources that can be used as alternative raw materials for fluorite. 

Using a burning process that reaches temperatures of 1,450°C, the Group's cement plants detoxify and make effective use of industrial waste and other difficult-to-treat materials without generating any secondary waste. As well as using substances such as coal ash, construction sludge, sludge, incineration fly ash, copper slag byproducts from copper smelters, and gypsum as the raw materials of cement, we also turn materials such as waste plastics, waste tires and wood waste back into cement, by using them as a source of thermal energy.

Our company conducts Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantitatively assess and analyze environmental impacts — such as energy consumption during manufacturing, waste generation, and hazardous substance usage — across all stages of cutting tools, from development through recycling and disposal. This initiative aims to minimize these impacts.

For newly developed products, we conduct evaluations based on the Environmental Harmony Product Evaluation Standards established by the Japan Cutting & Wear-resistant Tool Association (JTA). Evaluation criteria include factors such as long service life, reduced environmental impact for customers, and minimized manufacturing waste. As a result of this process, after JTA review, our products are certified as “Environmentally Friendly Products” for their contribution to reducing environmental impact.