The company started a strict new `green' regime to achieve zero waste earlier this year.

As part of its company-wide efforts to be eco-friendly, Fuji Xerox Co. has gone completely ``green'' in China.

In February 2005, the Fuji Xerox Co. group announced it had achieved ``zero waste'' by recycling almost 100 percent of its resources, at its two factories in China, a first-time feat for the company's overseas plants.

The Chinese government, which increasingly is putting priority on environmental protection, is expected to soon certify Fuji Xerox as a model eco-friendly company.

It hasn't been easy to be green in China, however, say officials of Fuji Xerox.

First, recycling is a relatively new field there. Second, few power plants use daily waste as fuel. Third, there are many waste collectors but few are eco-conscious. And last, employees themselves are not keen to sort waste.

To overcome these problems, the company has trained processing firms that can serve as coordinators, and it continually trains its own employees to recycle.

Despite the difficulties, when the Fuji Xerox group decided to transfer its production bases from Japan to China, turning its Chinese plants-one in Shanghai and one in Shenzen, Guangdong province-into eco-friendly units was a company priority in line with its slogan of ``green management.''

It has now succeeded, Fuji Xerox says. Its Shenzhen factory declared zero waste in January, and its Shanghai factory declared zero waste in early February.

The recycling program started first in the Shenzhen factory in fiscal 2003, then was picked up at the Shanghai factory in fiscal 2004. The Shenzhen factory, named Fuji Xerox of Shenzhen Ltd., was set up in June 1995 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Fuji Xerox group.

Its recycling targets were set for recycling more than 99.5 percent of its resources and burying less than 0.5 percent in weight of the total waste it produced.

A special team led the effort, headed by Masahiko Ishikawa, general manager of administration, and Zhang Hongbin, executive manager of the environment and safety division.

The team started with a recycling rate of just 37.48 percent in fiscal 2002.

Between April and August 2003, the team first checked how waste was dealt with at the factory.

Basically, the company just gave a third party its waste, which buried all of it. There were no set collection dates or staff assigned to recycling.

From September to December 2003, the team instituted a trial program to sort waste, while seeking companies that would recycle the waste properly.

From the start of fiscal 2004, the team devised a standard for sorting waste and implemented it. The team set up collection boxes all over the factory and employee dormitories, and designated space for temporarily storing the sorted waste.

The company has categorized waste into 22 categories-including industrial waste, daily waste and hazardous materials-and clearly designates who should take charge of collecting the waste and when. Waste that cannot be recycled at the plant is outsourced for recycling.

Company officials negotiated for three months with a local power plant to get it to use the company's daily waste, by far the largest category, as fuel. Even leftover food from the cafeteria is now sold to local farmers to feed pigs.

The second highest volume of waste is industrial waste, including paper, metals, and plastics, which are now sold to other businesses. Wrapping and foam materials are turned into flower pots, for example, and wood is often sold for fuel.

A team of workers has been assigned to collect industrial waste about every two weeks. Hazardous materials such as fluorescent lights, batteries and various industrial fluids are either stored in designated locations or outsourced.

The company also made efforts to reduce waste in general; workers now put used paper into the copy machines to print on the unused side, and they have switched to rechargeable batteries. The company also trained its employees in energy-saving tips. Every light switch in the plant is monitored by an assigned person.

The results of the new measures were impressive. The plant's recycling rate shot up to 94.49 percent in fiscal 2003, and 99.5 percent in September 2004. Finally, the plant declared in January 2005 that it had achieved zero waste.

In April 2004, the plant passed the Chinese government's on-site inspection for eco-friendly firms.

If it obtains a certificate as an eco-friendly company, it will be the first Japanese company to do so in China and the first company to do so at all in Guangdong province, according to Masaaki Inagaki, managing director of Fuji Xerox of Shenzhen.

Fuji Xerox of Shenzhen is in a district bordering Hong Kong. The company now exports 100 percent of its products. Sales reached 4.2 billion yuan, or about 55 billion yen, in 2004. The figure is expected to double this year. Many of its 3,500 or so workers, whose average age is 19, live in dormitories on the compound and earn about 1,000 yuan, or about 13,000 yen, a month. About 30 Japanese staffers also work there.

The plant is expected in fiscal 2005 to produce most of the copiers and printers the Fuji Xerox group plans to manufacture in China. Together with the other plant, their output will account for about 90 percent of its total worldwide production of 1.3 million units.(IHT/Asahi: March 5,2005)