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 manufacturing plants are located. We are promoting efficient use of water companywide as water recycling and manufacturing process improvements.
We are committed to reducing water consumption by clearly identifying the amount of water required for production and reducing excess water use. In 2022, we worked on the target of reducing usage at Tokai Carbon’s operation sites by at least 1% from the FY2018 level, and achieved the target with a 4% reduction. In 2023, we will expand the target scope to our major Group companies to reduce water usage with the goal of being below the 2021 level (9 million m3/year).
Targets and progress are discussed in the Sustainability Committee, chaired by the president, and reported to the Board of Directors on a quarterly basis.
We identify areas of water stress by referring to the WRI Aqueduct. In 2022, we conducted a survey of all 51 sites(*1) in Japan and overseas, including our head office, branch offices, and group companies.
Of these, five sites were identified as having high water stress (*2). Apart from one sales site, we conducted a detailed survey of past floods, droughts and water consumption for each site to confirm that they are at low risk.
Tokai Carbon’s operation sites take various measures to achieve the goal of reducing water consumption.
Business | Site | Initiative |
---|---|---|
Graphite electrodes | Domestic productions sites | Adjustment of industrial water intake |
Overseas production sites | Recycle and reuse of cooling water in the graphitization process | |
Carbon black | Overseas production sites | Capital investment for leakage control |
In calculating performance, water consumption is computed as the amount taken in.
Amount of water intake (1,000 m3)
2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amount of water intake | Tokai Carbon | 2,880 | 2,846 | 2,637 | 2,880 | 2,760 |
Tokai Carbon Group | - | 8,937 | 7,836 | 9,006 | 8,726 | |
(Breakdown)Tap water | Tokai Carbon | 277 | 326 | 290 | 292 | 366 |
Tokai Carbon Group | - | 2,893 | 2,448 | 2,818 | 2,743 | |
River(industrial water) | Tokai Carbon | 1,858 | 1,801 | 1,697 | 1,908 | 1,727 |
Tokai Carbon Group | - | 3,009 | 2,770 | 3,073 | 2,771 | |
Ground water | Tokai Carbon | 745 | 719 | 649 | 680 | 668 |
Tokai Carbon Group | - | 2,983 | 2,597 | 3,062 | 3,048 | |
Others | Tokai Carbon Group | - | 52 | 21 | 54 | 164 |
Water intake per unit of sales
2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
---|---|---|---|
34.1 | 38.9 | 34.8 | 25.6 |
Amount of water drainage (1,000 m3)
2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amount of water output | 1,994 | 2,068 | 2,010 | 2,115 | 2,011 |
(Breakdown)Sewer | 100 | 108 | 95 | 108 | 134 |
River | 573 | 578 | 546 | 554 | 564 |
Sea | 1,321 | 1,382 | 1,369 | 1,453 | 1,312 |
Discharges of Environmentally Hazardous Substances into Water
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Units | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BOD emissions | kg | 1,372 | 1,787 | 1,781 | 1,211 | 1,165 |
COD emissions | kg | 6,855 | 9,369 | 9,170 | 9,600 | 5,878 |
Total nitrogen | t | 5.4 | 6.0 | 5.2 | 8.2 | 8.7 |
Total phosphorus | t | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
Number of violations of water related laws, regulations, etc.
2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
---|---|---|
0 | 0 | 0 |