I am very thankful to ‘Team Kaiho Sangyo’ for accepting me to learn about Automotive Recycling. I was hosted at their International Recycling Education Centre (IREC). On 5th September, following an introductory meeting with the President of the Company Mr. Kondo Takyuki, I attended a lecture by Prof. Kenichi Tsugume (IREC Director) about the venous industry and circular society. In this lecture, we discussed the importance of reduce, reuse and recycling (3R) to address global environmental issues. In particular, we discussed about existing technologies and management procedures to tackle waste management issues facing the Maldives and possible solutions. I also got the opportunity to meet with the Founder and Chairman of the company Mr. Norihiko Kondo. During the four days at Kaiho Sangyo I learned a lot, and below I wish to highlight few points. [2]
First, one of the most significant knowledge I gained from the internship came when Mr. Yamaguchi gave me a detailed tour of the car recycles process, including the inventory and management (KRA) system. In particular, I was impressed by the steps taken to meet the government regulations regarding disposing of engine oil as well as other parts of the car. Through Mr.Yamaguchi I learned that recycling of cars requires detailed knowledge about the materials used in the car. To my surprise, the whole process is very knowledge-intensive and requires elaborate and dedicated work. Indeed, after detail explanation of Mr. Yamaguchi and translation of Mr. Yuki, I finally began to understand the spirit and the efforts Kaiho Sangyo puts to preserve the nature through automotive recycling.
Second, I like to mention about the morning assembly meeting. Although I have heard of such practice in Japan, this was the first time for me to participate in such a gathering. I noticed that the President was already in the hall to greet the employees, and when each employee enters there was spontaneous (and loud) exchange of greetings, which not only creates a climate of discipline and order but also it has a feeling of family atmosphere. Another prominent part of the meeting is an employee sharing a ‘short story’ related to the mission of the company and the feedback received from the supervisors including the Chairman. I believe this meeting in the early morning not only allows dissemination of information among different divisions of the company but also contributes to personal improvements of the employees (e.g., communication skills).
Third, during my internship, I also learned about the importance of the alliance between different recycling companies. In this context, I visited the Tire Recycling and Shredder Plant run by Kaitaigyo Co., Ltd. Moreover, I also observed the biomass recycling technologies used by the Meiwa Co., Ltd. This tour is especially interesting to me because the opportunity allowed me to learn valuable information about the biomass carbonization. Following the tours, the discussions with Prof. Tsugumi was constructive in identifying waste management problems facing the Maldives and identifying specific solutions to that problem. I believe that the information I have obtained, and the technologies I have seen can be used to begin work on a potential project to solve some of the waste management problems facing the islands in the Maldives.