Contribute to Building a Circular Economy Society
Contribute to building sustainable industries and society and preventing and reversing the nature loss by developing and providing products and services that make effective use of and reuse limited resources and reclable resources in optimal ways.
The Kurita Group Approach
In response to global environmental issues such as resource depletion and environmental pollution caused by waste, the Kurita Group will develop and provide products and services that effectively utilize and reuse limited and recyclable resources in an optimal manner, thereby contributing to the establishment of sustainable industries and society and the prevention and restoration of loss of nature.
The Kurita Group has established the "Kurita Group Environmental Policy" as a groupwide policy on environmental issues. Based on this policy, we will continuously promote environmental improvement activities. Business sites that have acquired ISO14001 certification build and operate their own environmental management systems in accordance with this policy. Other business sites that have not acquired certification also build and operate environmental management systems, including necessary regulations, systems, and activity plans, in line with this policy.
Changes of Policy in the PSV-27 Plan
In the previous Medium-term Management Plan MVP-22, "reduce waste" based on a linear economy was identified as a materiality. However, in the current Medium-term Management Plan PSV-27, we aim for a circular economy, focusing on reducing resource input and recycling waste.
Contribution to Achieving the SDGs
Promotion and Governance System
The Kurita Group has defined “Contribute to building a circular economy society” as one of its materialities, and the Sustainability Committee chaired by the Executive General Manager of the Sustainability Division, a Corporate Officer of the Company, discusses the activities of the specialized subcommittee (Circular Economy Promotion Subcommittee) and each organization, and oversees and promotes the Group’s initiatives to build a circular economy society.
The Sustainability Committee discusses or reports on the status of the initiatives to the Executive Committee twice a year in principle, and the Executive Committee deliberates and decides on necessary measures. Additionally, the Executive Committee reports on the status of initiatives to the Board of Directors, which oversees initiatives related to materialities. The Sustainability Advisory Council examines and deliberates on the Company's approach to sustainability management from a multi-stakeholder, medium- to long-term perspective, taking into account global circumstances surrounding sustainability, and provides advice and reports to the Board of Directors.
Circular Economy Promotion Subcommittee
The Circular Economy Promotion Subcommittee is a specialized subcommittee under the Sustainability Committee that considers metrics and measures to promote the achievement of results related to the materiality “Contribute to building a circular economy society.” In fiscal 2024, the Subcommittee worked on creating new CSV businesses that contributes to the circular economy, expanding achievements of existing CSV businesses, organizing the concept of the circular economy, and gathering information on international trends.
Please refer to the details of the CSV business here.
Acquisition of ISO 14001 Certification
The Kurita Group has acquired ISO 14001 certification, focusing on business sites with high environmental impact. Business sites that have not acquired certification build management systems in accordance with the Kurita Group Environmental Policy. Please click here to see the acquisition rate of the entire Group and the list of companies that have acquired certification as of March 2024.
Implementation of Environmental Compliance Assessments
Based on the "Kurita Group Environmental Policy," the Kurita Group conducts activities to comply with environmental laws and regulations applicable in each country and region where it operates as part of its environmental improvement activities. Through "self-assessment sheets" targeting all Kurita Group business sites engaged in environmental improvement activities and "on-site inspections" targeting business sites of the company and group companies in Japan with relatively high risks of environmental law violations, we continuously evaluate and verify the compliance status and corrective actions regarding environmental laws related to chemical substance management, waste management, and wastewater treatment facility management at each group company and business site once a year.
Targets and Results
The Kurita Group is working to build a circular economy society by setting targets for resource recovery and the reduction of resource inputs through the provision of solutions to customers, as well as in-house waste recycling rate in business activities. Targets and results for this materiality are shown as below.
| Metrics | Targets（Upper row） and Results（Lower row） | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024 | FY2025 * | FY2026 | FY2028 | |
| Rate of increase in resource recovery or reduction of resource input through CSV business (compared to FY2023) |
30% | 65% | 100% | 300% |
| Not Achieved （-2%） |
||||
| In-house waste recycling rate | Meet or exceed the previous year | Meet or exceed the previous year | Meet or exceed the previous year | Meet or exceed the previous year |
| Achieved | ||||
- The targets for fiscal 2025 were reviewed by the Sustainability Committee, and decided by the Executive Committee.
Evaluation of Results and Outline of Activities
Rate of Increase in Resource Recovery or Reduction of Resource Input through CSV Business
The Kurita Group has set targets for the rate of increase in resource recovery or reduction of resource input through CSV business, and develops and provides solutions that contribute to resource recovery and raw material reduction through the reuse and recycling of waste materials, raw material reduction at the design stage, and resource input reduction through product reuse.
The result for fiscal 2024 fell short of the target, at -2% compared to fiscal 2023. This was largely due to the postponement of planned projects related to some resources that consist the metric.
Please refer to the details of the CSV business here.
In-house waste recycling rate
In order to improve in-house waste recycling rate, the Kurita Group has selected sites that are considered to have particularly large impact on the environment as priority sites. In evaluating and selecting sites, we use indicators such as the ratio of waste volume to the total waste volume of the Kurita Group, the waste recycling rate, and the amount of hazardous waste for each site.
For the selected sites, we are continuously working to reduce the amount of waste per unit and improve the recycling rate, using items closely related to the amount of waste, such as production volume, net sales, and total floor space, as the unit denominator taking into account the characteristics of each site.
In fiscal 2024, the initiatives at each site progressed as planned, resulting in a higher performance than the previous year and achieving the result. We will continue to follow up on the status of the plans and initiatives at each site and promote the horizontal deployment of best practices.
For data on waste, please click on the link below.