Recycled Paper Recycling and Meiko Shokai's Challenge - Related Technologies and Historical Background (1990s)

Recycled Paper Recycling and Meiko Shokai's Challenge - Related Technologies and Historical Background (1990s)

In the 1990s, Japan was under strong pressure to transition to a "recycling-oriented society" following the enactment of the Basic Environment Law (1993) and the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law (1995). However, shredded paper was considered difficult to recycle through conventional paper collection routes due to the shortened fibers and contraindications (thermal paper, laminated paper, tickets with magnetic tape, etc.), and many of the shredded paper was incinerated. Many of them were incinerated. In response to this situation, Meiko Shokai has developed a unique recycling system.

The core of the related technology is an advanced pulper process and foreign matter removal process. Since shredded paper has short, tangled fibers that easily clog normal pulpers, we have adopted a technology that uses a prolonged "soaking process" to loosen the fibers and return the pulp to a homogeneous pulp. In addition, the combination of floating and sinking sorting that utilizes the difference in specific gravity to separate magnetic tape and film fragments, and the removal of minute foreign matter with a screen has made it possible to recycle mixed paper, which was considered difficult in the past. Furthermore, pulp from which foreign matter was removed was processed into toilet paper and recycled copy paper, and returned to the market as a product.

This system was not merely a technological improvement at the mill, but was constructed as a "closed recycling system" with the participation of about 300 municipalities and companies, mainly in the Tokyo metropolitan area. In other words, it is a circular framework in which shredder waste is collected at the source and returned as recycled paper. The annual processing capacity of approximately 100,000 tons was large at the time, enabling both an improvement in the recycling rate and a reduction in the amount of waste incinerated.

Meiko Shokai's challenge anticipated the "zero emissions" concept and the "Basic Law for Establishing a Resource Recycling Society" (2000), and is a good example of the combination of advanced recycling technology and social systems. In other words, it was a pioneering example of technological development, institutional design, and cooperation between local governments and businesses, and was one of the technological innovations that supported the foundation of Japan's recycling industry.