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THE SUNDAY GLEANER, OCTOBER 23, 2016 | ARTS & EDUCATION

From trashto cashP O STCARD FRO M JAPANPHOTOS BY AMITABH SHARMA

Yoichi Ishii, section manager of Corelex San-Ei Regulator Tokyo Mill, one of Japan’s major manufacturers of toilet paper,
explains the use of the raw materials.

The section manager said that the manufacturing process is one of ingenuity,trial, and error, and perfecting the art ofthis process.
“All the machines in the factory havebeen made by us,” he said. “We learnt
from our experience, imperfections andfailures to build an efficient system.”

AmitabhSharma
CONTRIBUTOR

HOW MANY milk cartons does
it take to make a roll of toilet
paper?” asked Yoichi Ishii,
section manager of Corelex San-Ei
Regulator Tokyo Mill. The answers
were way off the mark, ranging from25 to 75.
“Five,” Ishii said as he tore a sectionof the carton, revealing the fibrous core
… but wait! Milk carton and toilet
paper …?
The answer is recycling, which iscore and critical to the value chain ofsustainable living and also a way of lifein Japan. And the city of Kawasaki,
south of Tokyo, has given sustainableliving a new meaning.
At the Corelex factory, there is moreto this story – trucks of discarded documents, cardboard boxes, paper fromrecycling plants are delivered everyday.

Floppy disc centres, clips, pins, and the other materials left
over after fibre is extracted at Corelex San-Ei Regulator
Tokyo Mill, Kawasaki city.

PRISTINE AND CLEAN

Train tickets are being used for more than a ride.
“We get a lot of discarded confidential documents in sealed cardboardboxes,” revealed Ishii. “These boxes
are immediately soaked in water.”
After one or two days, the paper
becomes pulp, and the metallic parts –clips, binders, stapler pins, and plastic
from the file covers – are separated bycentrifugal force.
Every material finds use as an end
product.
“The metal is sold as recyclables; theplastic is burnt to dry the soaked paper;and the ash is collected and sold to thecement factories as raw material,” Ishii
shared.
While the documents come free ofcost, the train companies send theirstock of used ticket stubs to Corelex.
“They (the train companies) are very
keen on recycling,” he said. “And theypay for this service.”
On an average, Ishii said, 1,000 to
2,000 tickets make one roll.

Japanese take pride in what they doand put their heart and soul in it. The factory floors are pristine and clean. There is
attention to detail, right from how thehard hats, cleaning material, and uniforms are stored to the production line.
The core manufacturing facilities arehoused on the third floor of the factory.
“This is to prevent large-scale damage
in case a Tsunami hits,” Ishii said.
Every step of the process is automatedto the optimum, and these processes aresupervised electronically and bypersonnel on the shop floor.
The pulp is mixed, processed, dried,and rolled; passed via a conveyer belt
to be put in tubes; cut to the required
size and packaged for shipment. A setof robots are employed to sort the bulk
packages according to their brands.

“We started using robots to increase
the efficiency,” Ishii said.
Corelex produces 1.2 million rolls per
day made from 100 per cent waste andrecycled paper. “The product is environmentally friendly and also costs less than
toilet paper made from pulp,” Ishii said.
Average retail price for Corelex toilet
paper is 200 Yen (J$247 approx) compared to 350 - 400 Yen for one madefrom pure pulp (J$432 - J$495 approx.).
Ishii is proud of what the company
has achieved and said it is their mission
to cut emissions and effluent to zero,
which is enshrined in a metal ‘0’ thatsits on top of a fish tank at the entrance
to the facility. “The tank is fed withrecycled water, and if fish can live andthrive in it, we can create and sustain
life for us and for generations tocome,” Ishii said.
The visit to Japan is part of the‘Pacific Islands and Caribbean
Journalists’ Program’ organised by theTokyo-based Association for Promotionof International Cooperation with support from the Foreign Press Centre,
Japan.
amitabh.sharma@hotmail.com