IBM Japan, Okamura tie up to reuse discarded PC plastics

Japanese IBM Japan, Ltd. and Okamura Corp have started a joint plastic recycling programme in which Okamura uses recycled plastics from discarded IBM personal computers (PCs) to make office supplies. Japan for Sustainability reports that IBM Japan has had the Eco-Office Promotion programme since 2001, in which the company uses office supplies such as ballpoint pens and wastebaskets made from plastics recycled from used PCs from its own offices or that had been leased to other organizations.



However, the new partnership with Okamura will provide IBM Japan with plastic products from recycled PCs originating further afield and will also triple the amount of plastic recycled. Okamura will join hands with IBM Japan to create office supplies from recycled plastics. This kind of supplier/user cooperation is expected to stabilize raw material supplies, promote consistent quality and establish an effective material cycle

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Waste management poses challenges, but could unlock major environmental and economic gains

Every day, the city of Rio de Janeiro, one of the largest metropolises in the Southern Hemisphere, generates 17,000 tonnes of waste, ranging from large industrial debris to candy wrappers bought innocently at newspaper stands. While this waste presents a serious and urgent environmental challenge, it also fuels an increasingly significant portion of the economy, with benefits extending beyond financial gains. - When we look at developed European countries, many are already recycling between 40% and 50%, with some reaching 60%. From an economic standpoint, both recyclable materials and organic waste hold tremendous value - stated Adalberto Maluf, National Secretary for Environment and Environmental Quality at the Ministry of the Environment (MMA), during the Methane Forum: Climate Emergency Brake, at the Rio Nature and Climate Week. Citing a 2025 report, Maluf mentioned that Brazil literally throws away R$27 billion annually, while municipalities spend significantly more - R$45 billion - managing all this waste, often overlooking the environmental impact or economic potential buried in landfills and dumps. - We spend R$45 billion to collect and dispose of waste in landfills, yet we manage to recycle less than a third of the potential. I believe it will be necessary to review contracts, create performance-based remuneration mechanisms, and pay for both effectively sorted materials and those diverted from landfills - he added. According to the IBGE, 60.5% of Brazilian municipalities adopt some form of selective waste collection, and several initiatives serve as examples of how to manage city waste. In his panel presentation, Bernardo Ornelas, Project Coordinator at the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Urban Cleaning Company (Comlurb), highlighted Ecoparque do Caju, a national benchmark in waste management and recycling. There, received materials are sorted and can be used for biogas production, organic compounds for urban gardens, or human consumption, in the case of still...