Our Approach

The volume of natural resources extracted from the earth has tripled in the past 50 years and is expected to increase by approximately 60% from 2020 levels by 2060.^*1 LIXIL has designated the circular economy as one of our focus areas to achieve the LIXIL Environmental Vision of “Zero Carbon and Circular Living.” We will ensure the sustainable use of limited resources and reduce waste by promoting circular production throughout the entire product lifecycle, from the procurement of raw materials, including metals, wood, resin, and ceramics, to manufacturing, consumer use, disposal, and recycling. We do so by prioritizing resource efficiency and informed product designs that facilitate recovery through recycling and reuse.
While the amount of plastic waste has more than doubled worldwide in the two decades since 2000, the recycling rate remains at just 9%.^*2 Fueled by the LIXIL Plastics Action Statement, we are reducing the amount of plastics we use, closing the loop for these plastics, and developing alternative materials.

LIXIL Plastics Action Statement (Opens new window) PDF: 1.3MB >

To achieve our goals, we take a comprehensive strategic approach and pursue mid-term targets through all three phases: Our Operations, Our Value Chain, and Expanding Our Impact. Beyond simply fulfilling our corporate responsibility to minimize the environmental footprint of our business and products, we work in collaboration with all our stakeholders to create new value in the environmental field to deliver an even greater positive impact on the environment and society.

*1 “Assessing Global Resource Use” by UNEP (Opens new window) >
*2 “Global Plastics Outlook: Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options” by OECD (Opens new window) >

Defining Our Strategic Approach and Mid-Term Targets

Our Operations

Waste Reduction and Recycling at Production Sites

We are improving manufacturing processes for raw material use and waste reduction and promoting the recycling of waste generated at production sites. Initiatives at our plants in Mexico have significantly increased the recycling rate in North America. At our Aguascalientes Plant, recycling gypsum molds used for sanitaryware manufacturing boosted the recycling rate from 49.6% in FYE2022 to 93.5% in FYE2026.
LIXIL Housing Technology is working to reduce the sludge generated in our Vietnam Plant. We have obtained detoxification certification, enabling the use of all the sludge generated as a raw material through internal recycling. Since FYE2024, we have successfully maintained a recycling rate of over 99% for waste generated at the plant, including sludge—a major improvement over the 63.3% recycling rate when we began implementing initiatives in FYE2022.

LIXIL Water Technology Japan successfully valorized ceramic kitchen scraps, previously destined for landfills, as shot blasting material for boiler cleaning.

To further promote such initiatives implemented at each site, we have enhanced activities conducted across multiple plants and systems for permanent resource circulation management. We also hold in-person meetings for employees responsible for waste management at each plant, enabling us to share best practices, discuss challenges, and formulate solutions across our plants. This collaborative approach has enabled us to address a common issue by converting metal-attached cardboard tubes into sellable resources, thereby eliminating industrial waste generation from these materials at our plants.

In-plant Recycling of Resin Scraps

To realize "window-to-window" material recycling, LIXIL promotes the effective and circular use of resin by establishing dedicated recycling systems and installing sorting equipment for scrap generated at our domestic plants. In FYE2024, the Kurisawa Plant achieved a 100% recycling rate for in-plant resin window scrap. This was accomplished through key initiatives, including sorting scrap and off-spec products by color to grind them into raw materials, utilizing technology to reuse resin shavings as feedstock, and repurposing materials unsuitable for products into pallet spacer boards.

・100% Recycling of Ceramic Scrap from the Sanitaryware Production Process
LIXIL's Enokido Plant, our primary sanitaryware manufacturing site, has established and fully implemented a technology to recycle 100% of production-generated ceramic scrap back into raw materials for high-quality ceramic sanitaryware. Previously, limitations on reusing ceramic scrap that did not meet strict quality standards meant that approximately 200 tons of this material annually were downcycled for other uses, such as roadbed material. By leveraging our long-accumulated expertise, we developed a production method with an optimized raw material mix, enabling high-quality, "ceramic-to-ceramic" closed-loop recycling that preserves the full value of the resources. This technology not only conserves limited natural resources like clay and feldspar—the main ingredients in ceramics—but also minimizes our environmental footprint while advancing sustainable, circular manufacturing.

・Valorization of Byproducts Generated in the Aluminum Manufacturing Process
While LIXIL is actively promoting the use of recycled aluminum, increasing its usage naturally leads to a higher volume of aluminum dross—an oxide byproduct generated during the melting process. Traditionally, dross that could not be reprocessed was disposed of as industrial waste. Because aluminum dross generates heat and gases upon contact with moisture, its volatile properties meant only a limited number of waste processors could handle it safely, making stable, long-term disposal a persistent challenge. To address this, LIXIL established a pioneering technology to extract high-purity aluminum hydroxide from aluminum dross, which has been verified for reuse as a high-value raw material for our Ecocarat interior wall tiles.
Furthermore, we partnered with other companies to build a system for valorizing aluminum sludge from the surface treatment process, which was previously treated as industrial waste. This valorized material is now effectively utilized as an environmental remediation agent to neutralize harmful substances generated in incineration facilities and other industrial processes.

Our Value Chain

Minimizing the Use of Virgin Resources

• Reducing Single-Use Plastic Packaging
At LIXIL, we are working to reduce the amount of plastic packaging discarded by end users and are transitioning to environmentally friendly alternatives. For example, our GROHE brand has been transitioning from plastic to sustainable alternative materials for product packaging since 2018 as a part of its Less Plastic Initiative. Consequently, all unnecessary plastic has been eliminated from these packaging materials as of FYE2023. In Japan, we are also successively switching the packaging of instruction manuals for end users from petroleum-based virgin plastics to biomass-based and recycled plastics.

Expanding Our Supply of Resource-Efficient Products

Creating a Circular, Product-to-Product Recycling System

Aiming to recycle end-of-life products back into the same high-quality products, LIXIL is working to realize a sustainable resource circulation system. By collaborating with diverse stakeholders—including national and local governments, industry associations, and business partners—we are building a comprehensive circular ecosystem that spans procurement, production, sales, installation, and recovery.

Expanding Our Impact

LIXIL is working to develop circular materials that make effective use of waste plastics, aiming to reduce the amount of those that are difficult to recycle.

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