Plastic Use Reduction

Management information

Relevance to our business

Due to the fact our customers are businesses, many of our products, such as oils and fats, are shipped in bulk via tank trucks, ton containers, and steel drums. Other products, such as chocolate, whipping cream and solid fats, are packaged in plastic and shipped in cardboard boxes. Plastic accounts for about 20% of the entire volume of packaging materials we use. Although this percentage is not high, we recognize the problems with plastic and believe it is essential to reduce our usage.

Basic approach

Packaging serves three key functions: keeping food safe to eat; maintaining food quality; and communicating product information. Amid growing concerns about resource depletion and marine plastic pollution, we aim to reduce our plastic use by reducing (thinning, decreasing weight, and replacing with a recyclable material), reusing, and recycling plastic packaging materials in a manner that also maintains these three functions.

Management system

In FY2021 we shifted from managing this issue as a Groupwide issue (material ESG issue*1) to having it addressed by each Group company.
Under the direction of our Chief “ESG” Officer (C“ESG”O), in FY2020 we conducted an internal survey to inform future policy on what was then the “packaging materials reduction” theme. The ESG Committee,*2 an advisory body to the board of directors, then discussed the results of that survey. As a result, in FY2021 we changed the name of this theme from “packaging materials reduction” to “plastic use reduction,” in order to more accurately reflect stakeholder interest. We also decided that it would be more effective to implement measures at the level of each Group company, considering the share of plastic packaging use among all packaging materials used by the Group and the size of our impact on marine plastic pollution, among other factors.

Goals / Results

At least 90% complete At least 60% complete Less than 60% complete

FY2020 Goals FY2020 Results Self-assessment
Survey the amount of packaging materials used at overseas Group companies We surveyed Group companies on the amount and types of packaging materials they used and their efforts to reduce use in FY2019. We found that Group companies are processing the plastic waste generated by factories in accordance with the laws of each country where they operate and that customers are also properly managing their waste. ○

Analysis

The survey results indicate a low possibility of marine pollution caused by plastic packaging associated with Fuji Oil Group products. Our findings also suggest the difficulty of recommending specific materials and setting a reduction target that applies equally to all Group companies. Reasons include: the Group’s B-to-B business model, the fact that Group companies have already been reducing packaging while maintaining a minimum standard of functional performance (maintaining food safety and quality; cost), the variety of materials used between companies, and requirements based on national laws and quality design.

Specific initiatives

Sharing useful information, reducing plastic use within the Group

The Production Productivity Management Group at Fuji Oil Holdings gathers information on various solutions and initiatives for cutting petroleum products and reducing environmental impact, such as circular economy, the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), and plastic alternatives; it then shares this information within the Fuji Oil Group.
To reduce plastic use, Fuji Oil Co., Ltd. buys pallets made of recycled plastic and sells plastic pallets it can no longer use at its factories to other companies.
UPGRADE Plant based kitchen, a pop-up restaurant we opened in Daimaru Shinsaibashi Main Building in Osaka, Japan (it closed on March 14, 2021), used shopping bags made partially from limestone instead of plastic.