Waste Reduction

The Fuji Oil Group established the Basic Policy of Environmental Integrity in 2015.

• Fuji Oil Group Basic Policy of Safety, Quality and Environment

  https://www.fujioil.co.jp/en/sustainability/policy/basic_policy/

The Fuji Oil Group has established the Sustainability Committee^*1 as an advisory body to the Board of Directors that is chaired by the President and CEO. From a multi-stakeholder perspective, the committee deliberates on and monitors Waste Reduction, a priority action to address material ESG issues,^*2 and makes recommendations to the Board. The Group implements related initiatives under the oversight of the Head of Safety, Quality and Production Technology Headquarters, the Executive Officer, to achieve the Environmental Vision 2030/2050.^*3

• *1 Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, Metrics and Targets > Governance

  https://www.fujioil.co.jp/en/sustainability/sustainability_management/#governance

• *2 Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, Metrics and Targets > Metrics and targets

  https://www.fujioil.co.jp/en/sustainability/sustainability_management/#index

• *3 Environmental Management > Metrics and targets

  https://www.fujioil.co.jp/en/sustainability/environmental_management/#index

In the face of challenges arising from the depletion of natural resources, environmental pollution due to waste, and climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions, the transition from a conventional linear economy based on mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal to a circular economy that utilizes resources in a sustainable manner has become an urgent global issue. Our Group has incorporated the concept of upcycling into our technological development since our founding, starting with our soy protein business using defatted soybeans as a raw material, and has been working proactively to achieve effective resource use and value creation. However, besides sludge in factory wastewater and spent bleaching earth (SBE) generated in oils and fats refining processes, food loss also results from the manufacturing stage, and there is also food waste from disposal of products after their expiration dates. To address these issues, the entire Group is working to reduce the amount of waste generated, based on our Environmental Vision 2030/2050. We have set targets for reducing waste intensity, and are working to recycle waste^*1 and increase the value-added of byproducts, working as a Group to achieve these targets. Our efforts to promote the effective use of resources and innovation in recycling technologies will lead to reduced waste disposal costs and environmental impacts, and to new business opportunities. For example, the development of new food ingredients and biofuels using food byproducts, and the expansion of a circular business model by improving waste recycling technology, are expected to strengthen competitiveness to achieve sustainable growth. We are also promoting initiatives to reduce food loss and upcycle^*2 food waste through technological innovation at the development stage as well as through other proactive efforts to find effective uses of waste.

• Environmental Management > Strategy

  https://www.fujioil.co.jp/en/sustainability/environmental_management/#strategy

• *1 See ESG Data Book.

• *2 Reduction of Food Loss and Waste and Upcycling

  https://www.fujioil.co.jp/en/sustainability/food_loss/

The Fuji Oil Group systematically manages risks and opportunities related to Environmentally Responsible MONOZUKURI (Product Development and Manufacturing Practices), an area of sustainability matters that address material ESG issues, in alignment with Group significant risks.

• Group significant risks
  Risk type: Strategy/ Environment and human rights/ Procurement

  https://www.fujioil.co.jp/en/ir/policies_and_systems/risk/

• Environmental Management > Risk management

  https://www.fujioil.co.jp/en/sustainability/environmental_management/#risk_management

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

Analysis

Waste intensity in FY2024 was 23% lower than the base year (FY2016), an improvement of eight percentage points from the previous fiscal year’s 15% reduction. This represents a 230% achievement rate, compared to our target for FY2030. Efforts included adjusting the amounts of bleaching earth added by Fuji Oil Co., Ltd., reviewing cleaning methods at production lines outside Japan, and reviewing waste disposal contractors, contributing to waste volume reductions.
At Group companies in Japan, the resource recycling rate in FY2024 was 99.84%, a decrease of 0.01 percentage point from the previous fiscal year’s 99.85%. Going forward, we will promote recycling by sorting waste more thoroughly.
In environmental management, we aimed to make improvements through environmental audits and shared our approach to resource recycling with Group companies. Through the environmental data collection systems we also collect and analyze waste-related data in a timely manner at each company, in order to improve our reduction rates at the company level.

Annual waste generation and waste intensity

• * For FY2016 onward we have revised total emissions outside Japan, and recalculated waste intensity.

Annual waste generation and recycling rate at Fuji Oil Group companies in Japan

Next steps

As a natural consequence of the characteristics of our business, sludge and SBE account for a large share of the waste we produce, and reducing these types of waste is a challenge. In recent years, these wastes are being increasingly viewed as sources of bioenergy, and their use in clean energy creation has grown. As we explore ways to recycle and effectively use waste, we will work on the following goal for FY2025:

Waste reduction initiatives

In FY2024, we carried out the following initiatives to reduce waste.

Reducing food loss and waste in manufacturing processes

Referencing definitions of food loss and waste from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and each country and region, the Group has created our own definition that suits our business structure, which has been used to monitor food loss and waste since FY2023.

The Fuji Oil Group definition of food loss and waste

Items that were produced or processed for human consumption but no longer have a purpose as food (including as animal feed).