Kayama Kogyo uses shredders, bees, and friendly dinosaurs to advance Japan’s recycling revolution
The creative 73-year-old company employs SSI shredders to efficiently process difficult material in their new facilities, which include an apiary
Kayama Kogyo is a Japan-based industrial waste processor with 73 years of experience evolving its vision of sustainability through a changing global landscape. It began in 1951, when Isao Kayama witnessed the incredible amount of trash generated by Japan's postwar industrial boom. Concerned by a lack of infrastructure to handle the growing waste, Isao Kayama saw an opportunity to make an impact and founded Kayama Kogyo.
Today, Junichiro Kayama, Isao Kayama's grandson and Kayama Kogyo's CEO, is continuing his grandfather's mission of ensuring a prosperous future through proper waste disposal. Kayama acknowledges the company's responsibility to adapt to increasing environmental concerns. "Incinerating and landfilling is no longer enough," he explains. "We need to recycle and reduce the amount of waste going to landfills."
At Kayama Kogyo's facilities employees process a wide range of materials from industrial and construction waste, to copper wire and wood. Materials are sorted and processed to create sellable metals, paper chips, and Refuse Plastic and Paper Fuel (RPF). Remaining materials and other hazardous materials are incinerated in-house. Currently 80 percent of incoming material is recycled. "We are doing everything we can to make that figure 100 percent," says Kayama.
To effectively handle their incoming waste, Kayama operates three SSI Shredding Systems shredders. Two dual-shear shredders, the M120 and the larger M140, break down incoming industrial and construction waste to increase flowability for downstream sorting equipment. A Quad Q100 four-shaft shredder at Kayama's new facility provides both a primary shred and uniform particle size reduction efficiently in one machine.
When asked why he opted to use SSI shredders in his facility, Junichiro Kayama points to the similarities between SSI and Kayama that created a natural partnership. "We do our best to innovate. And we felt that SSI was similar in always innovating and improving their shredders."
SSI also provides Kayama with the ability to maintain production as waste materials change. "There are more and more materials that are hard to shred [and they] continue to increase," says Kayama, "after extensive research, we came to the conclusion that the SSI shredders were the best units for difficult material."
Kayama Kogyo does more than just waste management. They are committed to protecting the environment. To prove this commitment, they began a beekeeping project at their incinerator facility. Bees are an indicator species, and pollutants in the surrounding environment are detectable in their honey. To study the impact of their incinerator, Kayama has their honey tested for contaminants. To date, the honey continues to test free of any pollutants.
Like the beekeeping project, Kayama Kogyo continues to employ diverse and creative strategies for raising environmental and recycling awareness. The company mascot, a dinosaur character named Torano san, appears on local television programs to educate children on how to reduce waste and the impacts of recycling. Kayama also supports the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, speaking at businesses and universities on sustainable recycling practices.
