Emission Limitations

Chemical substances are integral to the company in the operations of manufacturing and selling plastics. We, therefore, are responsible for minimizing the burden our business activities place on the environment. We make every effort to reduce emissions and control the amount of emissions to well within the levels required by laws and regulations and determined through preparatory discussions with the prefectural government. Also, we have quickly achieved our own voluntary target for CO2 emissions that exceeds that set by the Kyoto Protocol. We are now actively working on the remaining targets we set, including the reduction of total waste output.

Energy Conservation and Global Warming Prevention

Energy Conservation

We conduct intensive energy conservation efforts in accordance with the energy-saving targets stipulated in the “Voluntary activity plan concerning environmental protection” drawn up by the Japan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA), and an energy reduction target set by the Energy Saving Law (to reduce unit energy consumption by an average of 1% or more per year).

The JCIA's reduction target is defined by the unit energy consumption for 2010 based on the 1990 level (energy consumption per one ton production). The reduction target was revised upward from 10% last autumn to 20%, in order to contribute to the achievement of the goals set by the Kyoto Protocol.

With the introduction of the natural gas engine cogeneration system, thorough recovery of waste heat, implementation of high-efficiency electrical equipment and other measures, we have successfully reduced as much as approximately 40% in the unit energy consumption in 2007, which greatly exceeds the JCIA's new energy conservation target for 2010. We will continue to take ongoing measures to conserve energy, whilst complying with the reduction target set by the Energy Saving Law.

Global Warming Prevention

The Kyoto Protocol, which became effective on February 16, 2005, makes it obligatory for Japan, between the years 2008 and 2012, to cut back greenhouse gas emissions by 6% from the 1990 levels. Polyplastics has set a target for 7.3% reduction from the 1990 level of CO2 emissions yielded from production activities by fiscal 2007 (5% reduction of the 2002 levels). In fiscal 2005, we converted part of our power generation facilities fueled by heavy oil to a natural-gas engine cogeneration system, enabling a 12% reduction in CO2 emissions from production. In 2007, we were successful in reducing greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide) emissions from production at the Fuji Plant by 14% from the 1990 level (12% from the 2002 level), substantially exceeding our 2007 target in spite of increased production.

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Transition in Release and Transfer of PRTR-Targeted Substances

“Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR)” is a system for recording and reporting the volume of pollutants released into the environment from factories that produce chemical substances, and the volume (distance) transported outside factories as waste. In Japan, with the enactment of the “Law regarding assessment of volume released into the environment and promotion of improvement in management for specific chemical substances” in March 2000, investigation, reporting, and disclosure were commenced from the data for the fiscal 2001. Our business is concerned with nine substances targeted by PRTR at the present time. They are shown in the table below.

The greater part of the volume of transferred substances indicated in the graph were contained in waste plastic, created during the manufacturing process and disposed as industrial waste. Through our efforts to cut down industrial waste, we have made large reductions in these substances in the past six years.

We follow the voluntary management standards set by the Japan Chemical Industry Association for the amount of benzene released into the atmosphere. In 2000, we installed equipment that processes waste gas utilizing catalytic combustion, which has enabled more than a 90% reduction in benzene emissions, far above our target. Formaldehyde accounts for most of the rest of the air pollutants we release. We are now carrying out a plan to enhance the waste gas treatment equipment in stages between 2007 and 2009, in order to cut emissions of the substance. The primary stage of the plan was completed in October 2007, and the enhanced equipment is currently in operation.

As above, by 2007, we achieved a more than 60% reduction in PRTR-targeted substances released or transferred at the entire Fuji Plant form the base year 2000 levels. We continue to work toward an 80% reduction from the 2000 levels by 2009.

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Air and Water Pollution

With regard to air and water pollution control, we not only strictly comply with the pollutant emission levels required by laws and regulations and determined through preparatory discussions with the prefectural government but also work hard to minimize the emissions of air and water pollutants.

Measures for Prevention of Air Pollution

Emission of air pollutants from in house power generating facilities primarily depends on the quantity and type of fuel consumed and on waste-gas processing equipment performance. We implement ongoing energy-saving measures in the areas of power generating efficiency improvement and the production process, in an effort to reduce the amount of fuel we consume. We are also upgrading our waste-gas processing equipment and positively using more clean fuels.

In particular, we implemented high-efficiency waste-gas processing equipment in 2000. This has enabled us to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by about half and have brought down the level of sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions.

In 2005, we introduced a high-efficiency natural gas engine cogeneration system, through which we converted a proportion of our heavy oil fuel to cleaner natural gas.

In addition, during fiscal 2007, we managed to maintain emission levels of SOx, NOx, soot and dust, which are the main air pollutants, to much lower than the levels required by laws and regulations and determined through preparatory discussions with the prefectural government.

Measures for Prevention of Water Pollution

Although in recent years the levels of chemical oxygen demand (COD)* emitted from our factories show an upward tendency due to rising production amounts and other factors, we are keeping the levels below those required by laws and regulations and determined through preparatory discussions with the prefectural government.

In order to reduce the amount of COD emissions, we are taking measures such as the enhancement of wastewater processing equipment, etc.

*Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
Indicator of water pollution, expressed by the amount of oxygen required for oxidative degradation of organic matter in the wastewater.

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Waste Reduction and Recycling

How to dispose of and process waste from the production process and other sources in order to minimize the environmental load is a major challenge for the industry. At Polyplastics we are proactively working on the recycling and waste reduction generated by our business operations. We have achieved remarkable results thus far.

Compliance with the chemical industry's voluntary standards concerning landfill reduction

In the Fuji area, Polyplastics has been working towards achieving the chemical industry's voluntary standards target of a reduction in landfill industrial waste by 40% from the 1990 level by fiscal 2010. We successfully reached this goal in fiscal 2003.

Voluntary reduction and recycling activities

From the beginning of fiscal 2003, we further developed and stepped up our industrial waste reduction and recycling activities (a zero-emissions program) by establishing voluntary targets as follows:

Voluntary targets in the Fuji area (fiscal 2007)

Zero-emissions target

• Promotion of recycling as the means of processing waste, and a reduction in the amount of landfill and simple incineration waste to 1% or less of the total waste output.

Reduction target for output of industrial waste

• A reduction in total volume of industrial waste output by 45% from that of fiscal 2001 (changed to 55% reduction from the beginning of fiscal 2006)

Principle activities are listed below.

1. Production process improvements to reduce the output of resin waste.
2. Development of the application of resin waste and secondary materials into fuel and raw materials.
3. Expansion of sales and reuse routes for resin waste.
4. Upgrading of wastewater treatment equipment to reduce organic sludge output
   (introduced in Dec. 2004).

As a result of these activities, we achieved our zero-emissions targets during fiscal 2004, three years ahead of schedule (see the chart below). We maintained this target level for the following three years.

Likewise, we attained our original target of a 45% reduction in industrial waste by fiscal 2005, two years earlier than expected. We therefore continued our reduction efforts by increasing the target reduction for fiscal 2007 to 55%. Unfortunately, however, we saw an increase in the waste output during 2006 and 2007 and therefore could not reach the revised target. During the period, the waste output per production (unit waste output) remained broadly unchanged.

Naturally, we will maintain our zero-emissions targets from fiscal 2008 onwards. We will also continue our efforts to further reduce the amount of waste we generate, by setting the target of a 5% year-on-year based reduction in unit waste output each year.

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