Urban Miners - Reetem's Challenge and Transparent Circulation - 2002

Urban Miners - Reetem's Challenge and Transparent Circulation - 2002

In the early 2000s, Japanese society was seeking a shift to a recycling-oriented society after the mass production and mass consumption of the period of rapid economic growth. Against this backdrop, Re-Tem Corporation, based in Ota-ku, Tokyo, attracted attention as an advanced company that combined industrial waste treatment and metal recycling.

The company was one of the first to launch an initiative to recover and recycle precious and rare metals found in discarded IT equipment and precision machinery, opening up the possibility of "urban mines. The company's viewpoint of waste as a resource that lies within the city, rather than simply an unwanted item, challenges the conventional concept of "waste disposal.

The company was also proactive in the transparency of its corporate activities, acquiring ISO 14001 certification and voluntarily disclosing its environmental reports. This attitude was very progressive at the time, and local governments and business people came to visit the company one after another.

Re-Tem's efforts to demonstrate the role that a single company can play in addressing the national challenge of building a recycling-oriented society were highly evaluated from the perspective of creating environmental value. Re-Tem's efforts to demonstrate the role that a single company can play in addressing the national challenge of creating a recycling-oriented society were highly evaluated from the perspective of creating environmental value.