Water resource
Basic ideas
Basic ideas for water resource
Water is essential for Tokai Carbon’s business activities, and we are also aware that it is a vital resource in the local communities where our company’s plants, etc. are located. Because of that, we are promoting efficient use of water companywide through water recycling and manufacturing process improvements.
Initiatives
Water risk assessment
At Tokai Carbon, we use WRI Aqueduct to identify water-stressed regions. In 2019, we conducted a survey that targeted all 45 of our domestic and international bases (*1), including our Head Office, branches, and group companies.
Among these targets, one base was determined to have high water stress (*2), but after conducting a detailed survey of the conditions that led to the occurrence of floods and droughts in the past as well as water usage (*3), we have confirmed the risk to be low.
- *1 As of July 2019
- *2 A region that comes under “Overall Water Risk”, one of the WRI Aqueduct risk categories.
- *3 This base does not take water from underground and river sources, but it uses a monthly average of approximately thirty thousand tons of industrial water, which is within the water-use rights that were concluded with local government agencies.
Performance
Environmental data
Number of violations of water related laws, regulations, etc. in fiscal 2019: 2
Water Usage and Discharges of Environmentally Hazardous Substances into Water (Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd.)
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| Units | 2016*1 | 2017*1 | 2018*1 | 2019*1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water use | 1,000m3 | 2,612 | 2,698 | 2,761 | 2,684 |
| BOD emissions | kg | 2,385 | 2,262 | 1,614 | 1,966 |
| COD emissions | kg | 9,361 | 8,334 | 6,702 | 9,278 |
| NOx emissions | t | 571 | 661 | 672 | 587 |
| SOx emissions | t | 664 | 1,031 | 1,162 | 942 |
| Total nitrogen*2 | t | ― | 4.7 | 5.4 | 6.0 |
| Total phosphorus*2 | t | ― | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
- *1 Data-gathering period: April to March of the following year.
- *2 Reporting scope: Business locations that could impact the bodies of water specified in the Ministry of the Environment’s “Environmental Quality Standards for Water Pollution”attached table titled, “Environmental Quality Standards for Conservation of the Living Environment (Coastal waters, lakes)."
Amount of water drainage at main production bases (1,000 m3)
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount of water output | 1,804 | 1,877 | 1,891 | 1,607 |
| (Breakdown)Sewer | 90 | 102 | 104 | 103 |
| River | 433 | 471 | 460 | 466 |
| Sea | 1,281 | 1,305 | 1,327 | 1,039 |
- *Period of calculation: April to March each year
Amount of water intake at main production bases (1,000 m3)
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount of water intake | 2,566 | 2,704 | 2,765 | 2,684 |
| (Breakdown)Tap water | 223 | 251 | 286 | 311 |
| River(industrial water） | 1,743 | 1,796 | 1,858 | 1,775 |
| Ground water | 601 | 657 | 621 | 599 |
- *Period of calculation: April to March each year
At Tokai Carbon, industrial water is used at many of our bases, but some of our bases rely on service water (tap water) and groundwater for their water sources. Our Ishinomaki Plant uses service water (tap water), and at this plant, we made efforts to engage in recycling and improve manufacturing processes with the goal of reducing service water usage by 60%, and in 2019, we achieved a 60% reduction in service water usage (compared to FY2012).