Reducing Industrial Waste
Goals and Achievements of Major Initiatives
Reduce industrial waste disposed of as landfill (achieve zero emissions).
Reduce industrial waste generated
by production facilities.
| Scope of target | Japan |
|---|---|
| Goal for fiscal year 2021 |
|
| Achievements in fiscal year 2021 |
|
| Evaluation | ★★★ |
| Goals for fiscal year 2022 |
|
Promote recycling.
| Scope of target | Japan |
|---|---|
| Goals for fiscal year 2021 | Target for resource recycling rate at DIC Group companies in Japan: 90% |
| Achievements in fiscal year 2021 | Actual resource recycling rate at DIC Group companies in Japan: 89% |
| Evaluation | ★★ |
| Goals for fiscal year 2022 | Target for resource recycling rate at DIC Group companies in Japan: 90% |
- Resource recycling rate is calculated as: (Volume of industrial waste recycled (material recycling) + Waste heat recovered) / Volume of Industrial waste generated
- Evaluations are based on self-evaluations of current progress.
Key: ★★★ = Excellent; ★★ = Satisfactory; ★ = Still needs work
Policies and Organization
Basic Approach
To promote the realization of a circular economy, the DIC Group strives to use resources effectively, as well as to reduce the impact of its disposal of industrial waste.
In seeking to promote the realization of a circular economy, the DIC Group is stepping up efforts to encourage the reuse, reduction and recycling of industrial waste and minimizing production losses by increasing throughput yields. The Group also works to fully grasp and manage industrial waste from generation at production facility through to discharge, intermediate treatment and final disposal as landfill and to reduce its disposal of industrial waste as landfill by increasing its recycling rate through the expansion of material and chemical recycling, and the recovery of waste heat from incineration. To ensure strict compliance, the Group has implemented a comprehensive waste management system compatible with Japan’s Electronic Manifest (e-Manifest) system, thereby ensur ing traceability. The Group also conducts on-site checks to ensure the practices of subcontracted waste disposal companies.
Principal Initiatives in Fiscal Year 2021
01Initiatives by the DIC Group in Japan
The DIC Group in Japan has long promoted emissions initiatives with the aim of reducing the total volume of industrial waste disposed of as landfill by 95% from the fiscal year 2000 level, a target it actually achieved in fiscal year 2010. With efforts to shift toward a circular economy intensifying in recent years, the Group is now also working to reduce waste generated and waste discharged by Group production facilities as well as to curb waste disposed of as landfill.
In fiscal year 2021, the total volume of industrial waste generated by DIC Group production facilities in Japan amounted to 30,541 tonnes, down from 33,894 tonnes in fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2019, thanks to robust initiatives at each facility to curb waste emissions. Industrial waste disposed of as landfill by Group companies in Japan totaled 199 tonnes, below the average for the past three years (206 tonnes). Going forward, the Group will continue to reinforce its zero emissions initiatives.
DIC Group companies also continued working to ensure the appropriate disposal of equipment containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), as well as to promote the rigorous management of unprocessed waste, including that from transformers, capacitors and stabilizers, through proper collection and storage in warehouses.
02Deployment of a Comprehensive Industrial Waste Management System
In Japan, the e-Manifest system manages the movement of industrial waste by facilitating the electronic transmission of manifest information and tracking the flow of waste from transport to disposal. Unlike paper manifests, the e-Manifest system offers easy data input and eliminates the need for administrative reporting and storage by waste generators. In fiscal year 2016, the DIC Group in Japan introduced GENESYS ECO, a comprehensive industrial waste management system for use with the e-Manifest system. Deployment of GENESYS ECO at all Group production sites in Japan was completed in fiscal year 2019, an achievement that has helped to both save labor and ensure legal compliance containing PCBs, as well as to promote the rigorous management of unprocessed waste, including that from transformers, capacitors and stabilizers, through proper collection and storage in warehouses.
VOICE
GENESYS ECO has helped to both save labor and ensure legal compliance.
Owing to the partial revision of Japan’s Waste Management and Public Cleansing Law, Japanese companies with sites that discharge 50 tonnes or more of what is classified as “specially controlled industrial waste” are obliged to introduce the e-Manifest system by April 2020. DIC took swift steps to comply with this requirement, achieving full-scale introduction in fiscal year 2017. The following year, we expanded deployment to include Group companies and systematized manifest notification, thereby lowering the risk of legal violations. Further, simplifying procedures for issuing manifests and automating annual reporting to authorities has helped us to both save labor and ensure compliance. However, because the timing of deployment has varied, the capabilities of pertinent personnel vary from one site to another. Accordingly, we will take steps to further standardize procedures and correct disparities in skill levels.
Manager, Safety and Environment Group, Sakai Plant, DIC Corporation Eiji Ishii
03Initiatives by the DIC Group Overseas
In addition to ensuring that disposal of industrial waste complies with national and regional legal and regulatory requirements, the DIC Group’s production facilities overseas work to minimize industrial waste through the voluntary recycling and reuse of materials. At production facilities in the Americas and Europe, Greater China and the Asia–Pacific region, the Group is introducing new waste treatment facilities and promoting the horizontal deployment of best practices, including those aimed at improving production processes.
In fiscal year 2021, industrial waste generated by DIC Group production sites overseas dipped 4%, to 57,186 tonnes, while industrial waste disposed of as landfill by these sites decreased 23%, to 14,702 tonnes. Looking ahead, the Group’s overseas regional headquarters will focus on reinforcing compliance with local laws and regulations, as well as on curbing the generation of industrial waste and the disposal thereof as industrial waste.
TOPICS
DIC Graphics (Thailand)’s Amata Plant Receives Gold Level in AFS’ 2021 Best Waste Management Awards
On January 31, 2022, DIC Graphics (Thailand) Co., Ltd.’s Amata Plant received a Gold Level award in the 2021 Best Waste Management Awards, which are presented by Amata Facility Services Company (AFS), Thailand’s largest industrial estate development and management company.
The Best Waste Management Awards are given to companies with operations at its Amata City industrial estates that exhibit excellence in the reduction of waste disposed of as landfill and handling of other waste, in line with the “3Rs” of waste management, namely, reduce, reuse and recycle. Through this awards program, AFS aims to raise awareness of the importance of effectively managing industrial waste across all of its estates. “DIC Graphics (Thailand)’s Amata Plant first participated in this program in 2019,” explains the company’s Chief Operating Officer Chaiyasit Adchariyaporn. “In 2020, we were unable to take part as responding to COVID-19 took precedence. In the year ahead, we will further strengthen waste management efforts with the aim of achieving zero disposal of waste as landfill and earning a Platinum Level award in 2022.”
In 2021, 78 participating production facilities were assessed and recognized in the Best Waste Management Awards program’s Silver, Gold and Platinum Level categories.
Kanitta Mahasamut, ESH supervisor (left) and Siwapol Yangthong, factory manager (center), of DIC Graphics (Thailand)’s Amata Plant
04Generation and Disposal of Industrial Waste by the Global DIC Group
The definition of “industrial waste”—including whether it encompasses both toxic and nontoxic substances, and both hazardous and nonhazardous substances—varies in different countries and regions, as do the methods used to dispose of such waste. The DIC Group works to ensure the management of industrial waste in a manner appropriate for the degree of danger posed and in compliance with the laws of the countries and territories in which its sites are located. The Group works to fully grasp and manage industrial waste on a global basis, from generation at production facility through to discharge, intermediate treatment and final disposal as landfill.
The chart below illustrates the generation and disposal of industrial waste by the global DIC Group in fiscal year 2021. Data on industrial waste collected by the Group encompasses volume generated, volume discharged by production facilities, volume recycled (material recycling and chemical recycling), waste heat recovered (from boilers and incinerators, among others), waste heat not recovered (including from incineration) and volume disposed of as landfill.
