Under the corporate philosophy of “For People, Society and the Earth,” the Mitsubishi Materials Group has provided non-ferrous metal materials, mainly copper, and high-value-added functional materials.
In addition, the Group contributes to a sustainable society by carefully using resources and materials, the blessings of nature, as well as by recycling and reusing them.
In recent years, the concept of sustainability has been attracting more attention along with growing environmental awareness. How is the Mitsubishi Materials Group addressing this issue, which must be tackled by all of society? What kind of initiatives is it undertaking?
In this special feature, we will introduce the efforts of the Group to build a sustainable society through its businesses along with a message from an external expert.

The Mitsubishi Materials Group is engaged in manufacturing to enrich people’s lives. It always considers ways to use limited resources with care and focuses on recycling to realize a recycling-oriented society.

CREATE
Providing high-value-added materials and products
In addition to non-ferrous metal materials centered around copper, we provide high-value-added functional materials and products that leverage the technology we have cultivated over many years. These materials and products are used in computers, smartphones, automobiles, aircraft, medical equipment, and other products that are indispensable in our daily lives.

COLLECT
Circulating resources
Exhaustion of resources due to mass production, consumption, and disposal is a global problem. Mitsubishi Materials is committed to recycling in various fields to protect the earth’s limited resources and preserve them for the future.

TRANSFORM
We contribute to the realization of a recycling-oriented society by recycling collected waste and reusing it as a resource.

Materials and products of Mitsubishi Materials
We smelt (manufacture) materials such as gold, silver, and copper from copper concentrates imported from overseas and E-Scrap (circuit boards obtained from discarded home appliances, computers, smartphones, and network equipment). We are also developing other businesses, including the manufacture of high-quality, high-performance copper products using smelted materials, electronic materials and components used in the semiconductor  and electronics fields, and cemented carbide tools used in the machining of automobile and aircraft engines, etc.

The recycling Mitsubishi Materials is committed to
By utilizing our extensive business experience and advanced recycling technologies fostered mainly in the metals field, we recycle E-Scrap, home appliances (TVs, refrigerators, etc.), automobiles, and materials such as tungsten used in cemented carbide tools.

Mitsubishi Materials Corporation addresses challenges that also contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), effectively realizing improvements to corporate value by creating both social and economic values.

Copper and other non-ferrous metal materials, as well as materials and products with high value-added functions, contribute to people’s lives in many different scenarios. The Mitsubishi Materials Group will continue to support people’s affluent lives by stably supplying these materials and products.

I manage the refining process that extracts precious metals such as gold and silver from the slime that is generated after refining copper. In the process of extracting precious metals, there are still some issues that have not been elucidated in terms of removing impurities. However, as assuring quality is essential for a stable supply of products, I always make sure never to miss any small changes in operations. In addition, we are currently engaged in a new initiative to collect precious metals from slime in a more efficient manner. We will steadily proceed with this initiative that will contribute to our future.

Carefully making use of limited resources is essential to building a sustainable society. While making efforts to develop processing technologies and improving recycling amounts and rates, the Group will also provide recyclable products and explore new potential recyclables in addition to creating a wide area network.

To improve services for customers in E-Scrap transactions, we have established an E-Scrap platform, MEX*. Through this platform, we will realize the visualization of transactional information in the E-Scrap business and promote customers’ operational efficiency. By spreading this initiative globally, we can contribute to increasing global recycling rates. We will continue to listen to customers as we aim to further improve services.

We will contribute to building a decarbonized society by expanding our renewable energy business and stably supplying energy with a smaller environmental impact. In addition, we will promote energy-saving activities at individual plants and ensure to consider the reduction of environmental impact in manufacturing.

Every day, we promote stable operations and try to improve the power generation efficiency at the Wasabizawa Geothermal Power Plant. Geothermal power generation produces fewer CO2 emissions by taking advantage of thermal energy in underground magma. As building a decarbonized society is being called for all over the world, I am delighted that we can contribute through operating a geothermal power plant.

The Mitsubishi Materials Group has taken on the challenge of finding effective uses of resources and recycling them to conserve the natural environment while also properly maintaining and managing suspended or abandoned mines that it owns in Japan. In addition, it actively promotes the development of eco-friendly technologies and products as well as the maintenance of the vast forests in its possession.

I am engaged in the development of technology that separates and refines valuable metals such as cobalt and nickel from used lithium-ion batteries (LiBs). As LiBs contain rare metals and hazardous substances, disposing of them without proper processing can lead to a depletion of resources and environmental pollution. By jointly working with other companies to develop green processes that make detoxification and separation/refining compatible, we are contributing to the realization of a resource- recycling society and the prevention of environmental pollution.