Environmental Preservation and Building Environmentally-Friendly Societies

While working for environmental preservation, we are continuing employee training and education programs so that every employee can act with awareness of the environment.

Basic philosophy

In addition to strengthening the selection and management of chemical substances to create products and processes that are kind to people and the earth, we are improving environmental management in things such as compliance with laws, regulations and customer standards in every country where we do business, based on ISO 14001.

We are also making aggressive efforts for education to raise the environmental awareness of employees and train personnel for sustainable environmental activities.

Control and reduction of substances of concern

Control of chemical substances contained in products

To strengthen the management of chemical substances in our products, we control legally regulated substances in each country, substances that are self-regulated by automakers, and substances covered by our own company regulations. We watch the trends in European REACH^*1 regulations and the EU RoHS Directive^*2 and have a system in place to respond rapidly when these regulations are revised. To respond to requests from automakers in each country for information on chemical substances in products, we have devised mechanisms and conducted systems for global collective management of chemical substances that we are currently using in Japan, China, Thailand and Vietnam. We will be steadily expanding this system to places where it is not yet in use.

*1 Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals
*2 Restrictions on the use of specific hazardous substances contained in electrical and electronic equipment

■Chemical substance regulations in each region

*3 Restrictions on the use of substances of concern contained in automobile parts and materials
*4 ELV appendix
*5 Substances of high concern

Reduced use of substances of concern

In production processes, we are switching to water-based paint and release agents, making painting lines more compact, improving coating efficiency, and making other efforts to reduce Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) substances and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Through on-site visits, we also share information on cases in which VOCs were successfully decreased to promote reduction activities.

■Volumes and flow of emitted PRTR substances

■VOC emissions, emissions per sales unit (index)^*6

Japan, consolidated

*6 Emissions per sales unit (index) is a figure obtained taking FY2012 as 100

Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

*6 Emissions per sales unit (index) is a figure obtained taking FY2012 as 100

Activities for living with nature that build ties with the community

The Toyoda Gosei Group is working actively to protect nature and create environmentally-friendly societies through our plant afforestation project, biotope creation and environmental education.

We will further enhance these activities in coordination with the Toyota Group, government agencies, NPOs and others.

Mid-range plan for 2020

We have drafted a mid-range plan for biodiversity activities and are carrying out these activities with the slogan “Working to save our water, the source of life on earth.”

Kimori no sato woodland maintenance

In FY2019 we cleared undergrowth and thinned trees in a forest in Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture, located on the upper reaches of the Kiso River to promote healthy woodlands.

Biotope creation

We conducted a biological survey of the biotope completed in FY2018 at the Heiwacho Plant. Five themes and five species that are Aichi Prefecture Ecosystem Monitoring Indicator Species were confirmed, and living organisms have begun to gradually become established.

Examples

Creation of biotope^*7 in plant regulating pond

A biotope was completed in November 2018 using a rainwater regulating pond^*8 at Toyoda Gosei’s Heiwacho Plant (Aichi Prefecture, Japan). Creating a biotope with a regulating pond is unusual in Japan, and this was the first such effort in Aichi Prefecture.

This biotope was developed as an environment to foster rare organisms threatened with extinction. In addition to serving as a gene bank for Nagoya Dharma pond frogs and Japanese medaka fish, seeds of plants such as the Tokai dandelion are provided to other organizations. We also plan to use it as a learning site for local schoolchildren.

These activities are carried out in coordination with the All Toyota Green Wave Project and the Owari Seibu Ecosystem Network.^*9

*7 Derived from the Greek bios (life) and topos (place). An environment that provides a habitat for a distinct assemblage of organisms.
*8 Ponds established in residential areas or industrial plants, which function to temporarily store rainwater during local severe rainstorms and prevent flooding.
*9 One of nine such councils in Aichi Prefecture, established in November 2016. It consists of 45 groups, including NPOs and schools in the western Owari region, and serves as an ecosystem network.

Japanese dandelion
Japanese medaka
Nagoya Dharma
pond frog

Participation in cleanup activities for the Fujimae Tidal Flat

In October 2018, employees and their families picked up large volumes of polystyrene foam, plastic bottles and other trash that had accumulated on the banks of the Fujimae Tidal Flat to protect its ecosystem. The Fujimae Tidal Flat is located in Nagoya and registered in the Ramsar Convention.^*10 This provided an opportunity for participants to think about the environment, including understanding that birds and fish sometimes die from eating such trash and observing the animals (crabs, mudskippers, clams) that live in the tidal flat, which is not normally open to the public. This cleanup activity is held every year in cooperation with local residents and an NPO.

*10 An international treaty on the preservation and regeneration of wetlands that are waterfowl habitats. It was adopted in Ramsar, Iran in 1971.

Participation in the eradication of Lance-leaved Coreopsis^*11

In June 2018, we participated in an activity to get rid of Lance-leaved Coreopsis, an invasive plant species, that was held in the city of Miyoshi in Aichi Prefecture. About one ton of the plant was removed. This was done at the request of the prefectural government with the aim of protecting native plant species. The All Toyota Green Wave Project participated in cooperation local residents.

*11 This flower was imported into Japan from overseas as an ornamental plant, but it propagates strongly and crowds out native species. It was recently classified as a designated invasive species, and its cultivation and sale are prohibited.

Ecosystem preservation activities in Lake Izunuma-Uchinuma, Miyagi Prefecture

In October 2018, employees of TG East Japan Co., Ltd. and their families conducted ecosystem protection activities, such as cutting excessive reeds growing in Izunuma and Uchinuma in northern Miyagi Prefecture.

Izunuma and Uchinuma are registered in the Ramsar Convention^*10 because they are inhabited by more than 30 species of water birds, and they are wintering places for migratory birds including swans, white-fronted geese, and mallards. We work with the local environmental protection foundation^*12 every year to help protect the ecosystem.

*12 The Miyagi Prefectural Izunuma-Uchinuma Environmental Foundation

Maintaining a walking path
Cutting down reeds

Sustainability