事業所見学会(ユニバーサル製缶㈱結城工場にて)
Purpose of activities | Activities during fiscal 2020 | Self- assessment |
Targets/plans for activities from fiscal 2021 onwards |
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A |
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Self-assessment grades A: Target achieved B: Target mostly achieved C: Target not achieved
Based on our Corporate Philosophy "For People, Society and the Earth," we recognize the importance of environmental preservation on a global scale and strive to contribute to the creation of a sustainable society through our business activities.
As a comprehensive materials manufacturer, with operations ranging from cement, metals and metalworking through to electronic materials and components, we supply many of the basic materials and products that are essential to our industrialized society. Indeed, our materials and products are widely used in many aspects of daily life. Whereas operations within the materials industry inevitably have a high environmental impact at the manufacturing stages, they also present opportunities to effectively harness and recycle resources through initiatives at the waste processing and recycling stages.
We take the environment into consideration in everything that we do and are committed to environmental management, capitalizing on the nature of our operations to strike a balance between business and the environment. With that basic philosophy in mind, we are determined to do our bit to help create a recycling oriented society that has a low impact on the environment, through strict legal compliance and operations such as supplying and recycling essential everyday materials and products.
We are engaged in the following initiatives to achieve those objectives.
We have established the Environmental Management Panel to be a dedicated subcommittee under the Sustainable Management Office that formulates and implements group-wide environmental measures. We appoint environmental management supervisors at the manufacturing sites. They work to prevent pollution and ensure compliance with environmental laws and regulations by collaborating closely with the Head Office environmental management department.
We operate environmental management systems under the ISO 14001 standard and other environmental management systems at our facilities. Under those systems, we engage in continuous activities to ensure compliance with laws and regulations and improve our environmental performance. We develop and introduce environmental training programs to promote the acquisition of knowledge regarding environmental technologies, laws and regulations, and others, which is needed by managers who promote the above activities.
Participants | ||
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Environmental management training | Managers | 104 |
Waste management training | Managers | 33 |
Supervisors | 169 | |
Training for internal environmental auditors | 65 |
To handle the environmental issues that arise at our facilities, we have established an office providing the consultation services of staff specialized in environmental issues, at the Head Office. This office provides meticulous support, ensures that information useful in tackling environmental issues shared between the Head Office and facilities, and takes other initiatives to address environmental issues in a group-wide manner.
We hold a Meeting of Administrative Managers Responsible for Environmental Management once a year for management-level staff at our facilities. At these meetings, we share information about environmental measures and issues. In addition, in fiscal 2019, we began to give facility tours for environmental management supervisors at individual facilities. These tours are hands-on opportunities to learn methods of operating onsite related to environmental management and initiatives for preventing environmental accidents, and to exchange information with supervisors from other facilities.
Meeting of Administrative Managers Responsible for Environmental Management (at the Head Office)
Plant tour (At Universal Can Corporation's Yuki Plant )
We make sure to keep site-management up to date on changes in legislation applied to the Mitsubishi Materials Group by providing information via intranet or email to the staff in charge. In the event of major revisions or revisions requiring measures such as equipment upgrades, we organize explanatory meetings to provide information on the requisite measures and ensure that all our facilities are prepared to take appropriate action. Laws and regulations that currently apply are confirmed at each facility using a system we have developed on our own. In addition, the audit department conducts relevant audits. Any noncompliance found in the audits is corrected promptly and shared with related facilities as part of our efforts to improve the level of management in the overall Group
In the event of installation of new equipment, equipment upgrades, or any other projects involving new operations of a certain scale, individual facilities determine what actions the regulations require them to take, and confirmation is also made by other management divisions concerning their understanding of the relevant laws and regulations and the actions that have been taken.
With regard to our compliance with environment-related laws and regulations in fiscal 2020, we were not subject to any adverse dispositions (revoked permits, orders to cease operations, orders to stop use of equipment, fines, etc.) by regulatory authorities.
Moreover, we received 10 complaints to noise, suspended dust, vibrations, etc. For each one of these we immediately investigated the causes and implemented the necessary countermeasures.
In accordance with our Environmental Policy, we identify environmental risks to the Mitsubishi Materials Group from a broad perspective and take measures to prevent such risks from materializing.
If harmful substances leak, or waste products are treated in an inadequate manner, there is a risk that they could have a detrimental impact on the environment, as well as having a serious effect on our business activities as a group. We carry out risk assessments in line with the nature of our business activities, the substances that we handle, and the location of individual facilities, and take action as necessary. As well as preventing inadequate waste treatment at our own facilities, we also take steps to ensure that we do not overlook inadequate treatment by contractors through on-site confirmation.
In fiscal 2020, we invested approximately ¥1.5 billion in areas including renewal of equipment at copper smelting facilities and cement plants, with the goal of preventing air pollution and water pollution.
Costs associated with environmental preservation came to ¥5.7 billion, including environmental measures, and maintenance and management of equipment to prevent pollution.
Category | Investment Amount | Expense Amount | |
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Business area costs | 1,506 | 5,606 | |
Pollution prevention costs | 885 | 2,605 | |
Global environmental conservation costs | 442 | 369 | |
Resource recycling costs | 179 | 2,632 | |
Upstream/downstream costs | 0 | 0 | |
Administration costs | 108 | 269 | |
R&D costs | 3 | 13 | |
Social activity costs | 0 | 11 | |
Environmental remediation costs | 26 | 106 |
The fiscal 2020 total energy input (non-consolidated) decreased by about 3.7% (1.6 petajoules: crude oil equivalent of 40 thousand kiloliters) compared to fiscal 2019. This was due to decreased volume of production at each cement plant and increased usage of waste plastic and other alternative thermal energy resources. Energy unit consumption improved by 0.7% compared to fiscal 2019.
* 1 PJ (peta joules) =1015 J= 1,000 TJ (tera joules)
In fiscal 2020, we used a total of 3.3 million tons of waste and byproducts (down 8% from the previous year) at Mitsubishi Materials, which is roughly 19% of the total raw material input of 17.6 million tons.
* Natural resources include limestone procured from Group mines
The vast majority of the water we consume is seawater used as cooling water at thermal power generation facilities at our cement plants and copper plants. We used a total of 422 million m³ of water at Mitsubishi Materials during fiscal 2020. Of the total water consumption volume, only 14.1 million m³ (2% decrease from the previous year) was fresh water.
* Excluding fresh water used in hydroelectric power generation
* Excluding seawater used for cooling
In fiscal 2020, the Company’s non-consolidated SOx emissions decreased by about 10% on the previous year and NOx emissions by about 13%. The decrease in SOx was due in part to operational improvements at our copper smelters, with which we recover the SOx contained in exhaust gases as sulfuric acid. The decrease in NOx was due to the reduction of production volume in our cement business.
* COD figures exclude COD contained in seawater used for cooling, due to changes to the scope of calculations from fiscal 2016 onwards.
The volume of water discharged by Mitsubishi Materials (excluding water drained into the sea) in fiscal 2020 totaled approximately 8.8 million m³, roughly the same as the previous year. Of the 411 million m³ of water drained into the sea by Mitsubishi Materials, the vast majority was seawater that had been used as once-through cooling water.
* Excluding water drained into the sea
In fiscal 2020, the Company’s non-consolidated emissions were about 68 tons. The transferred amount was about 51 tons, a level similar to the previous year.
The volume of waste sent to landfills by Mitsubishi Materials in fiscal 2020 decreased by around 22% from the previous year, to approximately 4.8 thousand tons, due in part to the decrease in production volume. The total volume of waste for the Group as a whole, including Mitsubishi Materials, came to approximately 158 thousand tons, of which around 80% was recycled. Starting from fiscal 2018, we differentiate final waste disposal volumes and resource recovery volumes between hazardous and non-hazardous waste. The Company’s non-consolidated volume of hazardous waste increased by around 27% from the previous year, to 2.4 thousand tons, due in part to the treatment of PCB waste. We outsourced the treatment of PCB waste to Japan Environmental Storage & Safety Corporation (JESCO) and certified business operators engaged in detoxifying treatment.