Japan – confidential documents recycling: flushed with success

Koudera Town, in Japan‘‘s Hyogo Prefecture, started using toilet paper recycled from discarded confidential documents, including the town‘‘s, for its town hall restrooms in late May 2004. Japan for Sustainability reports that the toilet paper is manufactured by Nishinihon Eizai Co., a Japanese paper manufacturer that has similar contracts with 800 public offices and private companies, mainly in western Japan. Nishinihonn Eizai has had a contract with Koudera town since December 2003.



Classified documents from public offices and other enterprises are usually disposed of by incineration because recycling may lead to leaks of personal information and corporate secrets. The presence of metals such as staples or fasteners and widely fluctuating amounts for collection have also kept this kind of paper from being recycled.



To prevent information leaks, Nishinihon Eizai has introduced equipment that can dissolve confidential documents while still packed in cardboard boxes, and centrifugal separators to remove metal from the dissolved paper. The company started collecting secret documents for recycling into toilet paper in 1992. As the company gained a good reputation among customers, it has been able to collect more used paper, particularly since about 2000.



The company can obtain this used paper at low cost while its customers can reduce expenses for incinerating classified documents. In addition, some customers have successfully cut spending on toilet paper by directly purchasing recycled products from the company