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Environmental Management Environmental Sustainability Report 2004 |
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Contribution to Environmental Protection through Products, Technologies and Services (1) |
Lead-free Free-cutting Steel for Automobiles Leaded free-cutting steel is used for automobile seat parts, motor shafts, and others because of its beautiful finished surface and fine chips. However, in compliance with the End-of-Life Recycling Initiative*," the amount of lead in new automobiles must be reduced by the end of 2005. Kobe Steel developed a lead-free free-cutting steel, which provides cutting efficiency and other qualities equal to leaded free-cutting steel by using sulfides in place of lead in the ladle refining stage making the best of its specialty steel technologies. *) End-of-Life Recycling Initiative: The recycling ratio of usable materials such as ferrous and nonferrous metals from used automobiles shall be increased from the current 75-80% to 95% in 2015 (April 1997, Ministry ofInternational Trade and Industry).
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