Epson Atmix Corporation (Atmix), a group company of Seiko Epson Corporation (Epson), has completed construction of a new metal recycling plant at Kita-Inter Plant No. 2.
Construction began in October 2023, with a total investment of approximately ¥5.5 billion ($38.02 million/ €33.3 million) in buildings and production equipment. The new facility will recycle used metals from the Epson Group’s operations and the local community to produce raw materials for Atmix’s metal powder products. By replacing virgin materials such as blast furnace iron with recycled metals, the plant will help conserve underground resources and reduce CO2 emissions, Epson explained.
Epson seeks to achieve sustainability and enrich communities, and, in Environmental Vision 2050, declares its goal of becoming carbon negative and underground resource free by 2050. The continued expansion of mass production and mass disposal poses serious risks to the global environment and social systems. To build a sustainable society, it is essential to transition to a circular economy. Epson is committed to developing environmental technologies that support resource circulation and carbon reduction, particularly through materials innovation.
Atmix, which specialises in metal powder production, began reusing silicon wafers from Epson’s semiconductor operations as raw materials in 2020. With the increasing risk of resource depletion and rising costs of virgin materials, the new plant is designed to establish a stable supply of recycled metal powders.
At Kita-Inter Plant No. 2, Atmix will recycle out-of-specification metal powders, metal scraps from its own production processes, and used molds and metal offcuts from Epson Group operations. These materials will be refined into high-quality raw materials, which will then be used at Atmix’s headquarters and Kita-Inter Plant to produce metal powders using proprietary technologies. These powders will also be used in metal injection molding (MIM) components. The new refining process will enable stable production of high-quality products and contribute to the development of next-generation energy-efficient and compact devices.
The plant will also serve as a key site for promoting Epson’s vision of becoming underground resource free, Epson added.
