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Fulfilling our corporate social responsibility is a major theme of our fourth medium-term management plan. Accordingly, we will track our impact on the environment in all phases, from product development to procurement, production, sale, and disposal, and we will balance production with environmental conservation and the prevention of pollution.
- Enhance handling and management with consideration for chemical safety and the environment
- Promote activities to conserve energy and mitigate global warming
- Promote efficient use, reuse, and recycling of resources
In order to effectively use our planet's limited natural resources and create a recycling-based society, we are always striving to reduce the volume of waste materials by promoting recycling.
We recover organic solvents (process effluents) used during manufacturing processes and perform on-site refinement so these chemicals can be reused in the same processes. These and other activities allow us to reduce the volume of industrial waste materials. When materials cannot be reused at a plant, we send them to recycling companies where they undergo distillation and other processes for recovery and eventual reuse.
In cases where recovery using distillation is not possible, used solvents are reused as a resource in a variety of ways, such as for fuel at cement plants. TOK is also promoting initiatives for the use of waste plastics as a raw material for plastic reclamation companies, and used bottles as a raw material for glass manufacturing companies.
TOK uses many types of chemicals in its manufacturing activities. Properly managing these chemicals is essential to maintaining workplace safety and health. We also prioritize the management of chemicals from the standpoint of reducing our environmental impact.
We properly manage the chemicals subject to Japan's Pollutant Release and Transfer Resister (PRTR) Law, based on our proprietary system. Even at the earliest stages of procuring raw materials, we check their hazardousness and examine any legal regulations, so as to ensure strict chemical management. In addition, we have improved our system, based on our unique "TOK List of Prohibited Substances"; this enables us to evaluate the chemicals contained in raw materials at the stage of designing new products, in this way, when the products are used, we are able to ensure conservation of the environment, health, and safety.
TOK is lowering its energy requirements in numerous ways. Among major initiatives are improvements to manufacturing processes, steps to boost employee productivity and the promotion of efficient equipment, including the use of exterior coatings with thermal insulation properties on buildings.
By taking measures, such as the introduction of the cogeneration system to the Koriyama plant and the use of natural gas as boiler fuel, we are playing our part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Cogeneration systems (Koriyama Plant)
Natural gas boilers (Sagami Operation Center)
Overseas subsidiaries have many environmental conservation activities, including programs to earn ISO 14001 certification, in order to lower the TOK Group's global environmental impact.
To establish efficient and effective environmental management systems, Italian subsidiary TOK ITALIA S.p.A. received ISO 14001 certification in January 2009.
Subsidiaries in the United States, Taiwan and China have already earned this certification.
TOKYO OHKA KOGYO AMERICA, INC.
CHANG CHUN TOK
(CHANSHU) CO., LTD.
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