Sony Corporation announced on December 4, 2007, that it has accomplished an industry first by creating an in-house system to recycle plastic (polystyrene) waste from collected CRT-based color televisions after use and polystyrene foam packaging materials into high-quality, flame-retardant polystyrene. The regenerated polystyrene will be used in its new BRAVIA TV product line for the domestic Japanese market, starting in the spring of 2008.
Sony was able to establish the new recycling system of collected CRT-based televisions based on its ongoing experience since the early 1990s in redesigning its TV product lines to take environmental measures into account, such as replacing and reducing the range of flame-retardant materials used, labeling which specific flame retardant substances and materials are used, promoting the use of uniform materials, and introducing designs that enable efficient product dismantling.
Sony has also succeeded in processing the polystyrene foam used to package product parts into a material with enhanced flame- and impact-resistance for use in TV parts. Applying this process, Inazawa TEC of Sony EMCS Corporation is now able to recycle its polystyrene foam waste into flame-retardant polystyrene.
The use of recycled flame-retardant polystyrene is estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 to 40 percent compared to the use of new materials. Moreover, this in-house recycling of plastic waste is projected to reduce the use of new materials and production costs at the same time.
* Information on this Web site has been screened from a vast pool of articles in the Japanese-language media, then edited and translated into English. In selecting and writing articles, JFS makes an effort to provide information that will convey the key trends and breakthroughs in a variety of fields.
* For readers who want more details, we have provided links to related JFS articles. If you find any failed links or have suggestions on other links to make, please let us know.
