In July 2007, the Teijin Group announced a "Declaration of Sustainable Environmental Initiatives" and decided to promote "Sustainable Environmental Initiatives" in terms of "Environment Preservation, "Environmentally-friendly Design" and "Environmental Business." In this regard, we have established a new promotion plan for "Environment Preservation" and "Environmentally-friendly Design."
Environment Preservation
"Environment Preservation" means initiatives to reduce environmental burdens in the daily business process. In the Declaration of Sustainable Environmental Initiatives, we set a target to reduce CO2 emissions nationwide by 20% or more relative to the 1990 level by 2020. This time, we have set an additional new long-term target to reduce chemical substance emissions and the volume of waste discharged from our plants.
By 2020, we are aiming to reduce chemical substance emissions by 80% or more relative to the 1998 level. The Teijin Group has been committed to reducing chemical substance emissions since 1998, and we are now striving proactively to introduce technology for collecting and decomposing chemical materials, including strengthening the absorption recovery of atmospheric emission gases and improving the combustion plant.
We will strive to reduce the volume of waste by 85% or more relative to 1998 by 2020.
Environmentally-friendly Design
To promote "Environmentally-friendly Design", which reflects reduced environmental burdens generated by our products and process designs, we have established a new unique certification system. We have also established "Guidelines for Environmentally-friendly Design" as operation rules under which we define purposes and clear certification standards. Under this system, the process design throughout the whole life-cycle of a product, from the procurement of material to disposal of the same, is evaluated in order to reduce environmental burdens in six areas, including "saving energy," "saving resources," "safety," "environment preservation," "information supply," and "reducing environmental burdens at the manufacturing stage."
The Environmentally-friendly Design Promotion Subcommittee is responsible for evaluating products for certification and the Chairman of the Teijin Group PL and Quality Assurance Subcommittee certifies products that take the results of the evaluation into consideration. The certified products will be further evaluated on an annual basis and the continuance or cancellation of their certification will be determined. 20 products, including "ELK," a high-performance polyester cushioning material, are certified after the reevaluation under the Guidelines.
Long-term Targets for Environment Preservation
| Item to be reduced | Countries | Details |
|---|---|---|
| CO2 | Japan | Reduce CO2 emissions by 20% or more relative to the 1990 level by 2020. |
| Chemical substance | Japan and overseas | Reduce chemical emissions by 80% or more relative to the 1998 level by 2020. |
| Waste | Japan and overseas | Reduce non-effectively used waste by 85% or more relative to the 1998 level by 2020. |
Volume of Chemical Waste
The production volume has increased since 1998.
Volume of Non-effectively Used Waste
The production volume has increased since 1998.
*Non-effectively used waste: Waste that is burned or landfilled without heat recollection.
