Pollution Prevention and Resource Recycling

Basic Approach
Major Initiatives

Basic Approach

The management of hazardous chemicals, waste, and wastewater must be reliably handled in accordance with laws and regulations. The Daifuku Group is working to reduce the burden on the global environment, including local communities, through initiatives to prevent environmental pollution and reduce the use of water and other resources. The Daifuku Environmental Vision 2050 (revised in May 2023) establishes the promotion of resource recycling as one of our critical issue areas, and we are working to extend the service life of our products, minimize the amount of waste generated at our production sites, and increase recycling of used products and parts.

Green procurement

The Daifuku Group has formulated the Green Procurement Guidelines, which denote the evaluation standards for any chemical substances that are contained in our products. In recent years, regulations regarding the management of hazardous chemical substances have been tightened, and in order to respond to growing demand, these guidelines were revised in 2023. These guidelines apply to all products (materials, parts, units, accessories, and packaging materials) and services procured by the Daifuku Group. Our policy is to prioritize the procurement of products that contain minimal hazardous substances of concern and products that contain minimal hazardous substances throughout the product’s life cycle. We are working with our business partners to reduce environmental impact throughout our entire supply chain.
Furthermore, for our major business partners, we request that they fully understand the Guidelines, and in order to promote the appropriate management of chemical substances, we ask that they submit proof of receipt and written informed consent (submission rate: 97%).

Major Initiatives

Resource saving

We are actively promoting the reduction and recycling of waste from manufacturing processes, such as defective products and packaging materials. All Group production sites set waste weight reduction targets and manage their progress. In particular, we are working to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills by enforcing separation during waste collection as well as to improve the recycling rate. Additionally, we are striving to conserve water at our production sites and offices in order to reduce consumption. In fiscal 2022, we installed meters on hydraulic equipment in the plant building with the highest water consumption at Shiga Works to visualize water consumption. Hydraulic equipment uses water for cooling, but it was found that a large amount of water was being consumed even when the equipment was not in operation. Therefore, a temperature sensor was installed in the piping of the hydraulic tank, and a cooling system was introduced to cool the oil only at a certain temperature. This initiative is expected to reduce the annual water consumption of the facility by approximately 75%. In fiscal 2023, this system was introduced to another line at the same plant.

Waste generated (Japan) *Including valuable waste

Waste recycling rate (Japan) *Including valuable waste

Water consumption (Japan)

Water consumption (outside of Japan)

Ensuring appropriate waste disposal

Site review conducted by Daifuku's employees — Site review conducted by Daifuku employees

Waste generated by business activities must be properly processed in accordance with laws and regulations. In the event that waste processing is outsourced to a licensed subcontractor, the business that generated the waste is still responsible for its disposal. At Daifuku, we choose our contractors after strict screening according to our internal waste management regulations. We also dispatch employees to each facility annually to check the status of waste processing in accordance with the ordinances of each municipality.

Pollutant reduction

Management of chemicals

Paints and organic solvents are the primary chemical substances used by Daifuku in its production facilities. The Group manages and controls the usage amounts of special chemical substances as designated under the PRTR (Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) Law.^*

*A law that requires enterprises to submit a report to their national governing authority specifying the number and volume of chemical substances they are releasing into the environment. This is aimed at voluntary management of chemical substances and the prevention of environmental pollution.

Emissions and transfer volume of chemical substances related to PRTR Law

Shiga Works

	FY2019	FY2020	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023
Emissions and transfer (kg)	18,531	16,880	20,542	24,837	28,267

Amount of PRTR-related chemical substances handled in FY2023

Shiga Works

(kg)

Control No.	Chemicals	Transaction Volume	Emission to					Transfer to
Control No.	Chemicals	Transaction Volume	Air	Public water	Soil	Land	Total emissions	Sewage	Misc.	Total transfer
37	Bisphenol A	996.5	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	19.93	19.93
53	Ethylbenzene	7,288.62	7,288.62	―	ー	ー	7,288.62	ー	ー	ー
80	Xylene	8,508.10	8,508.10	ー	ー	ー	8,508.10	ー	ー	ー
83	Cumene	168.93	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー
300	Toluene	10,312.72	10,312.72	ー	ー	ー	10,312.72	ー	ー	ー
302	Naphthalene	237.69	237.69	ー	ー	ー	237.69	ー	ー	ー
594	Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether	681.37	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー
691	Trimethylbenzene	1,869.62	1,869.62	ー	ー	ー	1,869.62	ー	ー	ー
720	2-tert-Butoxyethanol	400.92	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー
731	Heptane	298.82	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー
737	Methyl isobutyl ketone	277.06	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー	ー

Note: Chemical substances of which less than 100 kg is handled are omitted as the amounts are negligible.

Compliance with European harmful substance regulations

The entire Daifuku Group focuses on the European REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals) regulations^* and goes to great lengths to visualize and remove any harmful chemicals in its products. The Group continues to offer environmentally friendly products through implementation of Green Procurement Guidelines by looking at its entire supply chain.

* Companies must register and evaluate the safety of chemical substances contained in the products they manufacture and sell in Europe.

Air pollution prevention

Based on Shiga Prefecture’s Ordinance 25, Clause 1; Concerning the Reduction of Impact on the Air Environment of Shiga Prefecture, Shiga Works requested and was awarded the designation of a place of business working to reduce its environmental impact on the air. We are striving to control and reduce smoke-related air pollutants.

Result of air pollutant measurements in FY2023

Shiga Works (according to the Hino environmental pollution control agreement)

Material	Facility	Regulation value	Results
Material	Facility	Regulation value	Max.	Min.	Avg.
Dust (g/m³N)	Dynamos	0.1	0.007	0.005	0.006
Sulfur oxide (SOx) (m³N/h)	Dynamos	2.31	0.1	0.07	0.053
Nitrogen oxide (NOx) (ppm)	Dynamos	950	870	610	745

Preventing water pollution

Shiga Works, which accounts for approximately 70% of our domestic water consumption, had been managing and treating wastewater using three wastewater treatment facilities owned by the company. However, in fiscal 2022, we began sequential transitioning to public sewage, which was completed in March 2023. This decision was made based on the comprehensive consideration of the risk of abnormal wastewater being discharged due to failure of proper treatment, the impact on the lives and health of employees from handling medical agents, and the cost of wastewater treatment. With this change in treatment method, we are in compliance with the water quality standards set forth in the Sewerage Act.

Resource recyclingKPI

At Daifuku, we offer large-scale material handling systems consisting of many parts and materials. Under the Daifuku Environmental Vision 2050, we aim to recycle resources not only limited to when waste is generated from business activities, but also when equipment delivered to customers is removed. In this regard, we are continuing to review product materials and improve the ease of disassembly. In addition, we have positioned stable, long-term operation and delaying disposal timing as important initiatives, and as such we are working to enhance after-sales services such as maintenance and upkeep.

Daifuku Environmental Vision 2050

	Scope	FY2030 targets	FY2023 targets
Landfill disposal rate	Global	Less than 1%	Japan: less than 1% Outside of Japan: less than 5%
Water use intensity^*	Global	60% reduction (compared to FY2018)	12.5% reduction (compared to FY2018)

* Water consumption (1,000 m³) divided by net sales (100 million yen)