Sanyo Electric Co. announced that one of its subsidiaries will begin the business of recycling waste from semiconductor production plants, starting next month.
Sanyo Aqua Technology Co. will collect silicon sludge from the wastewater of such plants, dry and solidify it, and turn it into a reducing agent used in steel production, for sale to steelmakers.
Sanyo Aqua expects to recycle 600 tons of silicon waste per year by fiscal 2005, up from 23 tons for fiscal 2003.
The service is expected to reduce the environmental impact of semiconductor chip production, which wastes 80 pct of silicon in the process of cutting it into chips.
Collected silicon waste is usually buried in dumping grounds or used in cement.