Kyocera Named Recycler of the Year

The City of San Diego’s Environmental Services Department gave “Recycler of the Year” honors to Kyocera Wireless Corp. and Kyocera America Inc. The award was presented April 24 at a ceremony co-sponsored by the City and EarthWorks, the nonprofit sponsor of San Diego’s annual Earth Day celebration.

Kyocera Wireless, which manufactures CDMA handsets and accessories, received the award for recycling 63 percent of it waste materials in 2001, preventing roughly 2 million pounds of waste from entering landfills. The company also reclaimed approximately 600,000 batteries from wireless phones and reduced the size of its consumer packaging by 80 percent.

Kyocera America Inc., which manufactures a range of electronic packaging solutions for the telecommunications and semiconductor markets, received the award for recycling 68.2 percent of all waste generated in 2001, a total of 828,045 pounds of material. The company also recycled more than 71 million gallons of water used in its manufacturing process last year, and generated virtually all of the electricity it consumed, using an on-site co-generation facility and rooftop solar panel array.

Together, the companies saved more than $3.4 million during 20012 through their efforts, which also included recycling scrap metal, cardboard, paper, office equipment, wood and plastics.

Both companies are ISO-14001 and ISO-9001 certified, active in San Diego’s Industrial Environmental Association and recipients of multiple environmental performance awards.

“Kyocera is honored that both of its San Diego manufacturing companies have received this prestigious award,” Rodney N. Lanthorne, president of Kyocera International Inc. “We believe that every business enterprise should be committed to environmental preservation.”

The criteria upon with Mayor Dick Murphy’s Environmental Committee judges potential award recipients include an evaluation of recycling programs, improvement over previous recycling efforts, specific programs tailored to the company’s industrial niche, overall achievements and calculable results.