Environmental Management

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UACJ Group Basic Environmental Policies

Corporate Philosophy

The UACJ Group is thankful for the earth and the abundance of life it supports, and work to conserve it, with recognition that the fate of all living things hangs on the condition of the earth’s environment. We will also voluntarily and actively take action to evaluate the environmental impact of our current and future business activities throughout the supply chain, set specific targets based on the assessment, and minimize environmental load and maximize environmental contribution.

Guidelines

  1. We comply with environment-related laws, regulations, and agreements, and establish voluntary standards to properly manage wastewater, exhaust gas, and chemical substances.
  2. We promote sales of products and development of technology that contribute to environmental improvement.
  3. In order to contribute to the achievement of the goals of the Paris Agreement, we will strive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve energy, and promote measures against climate change. (The details shall be based on the "Concept of Climate Change Countermeasures")
  4. We promote the recycling of aluminum materials and other raw materials and secondary materials, and promote the creation of a sustainable recycling economy.
  5. We endeavor to conserve water resources essential to our business activities.
  6. We endeavor to conserve biodiversity by giving consideration to the benefits of ecosystems.
  7. We raise environmental awareness through educational and public relations activities.
  8. We strive to contribute to and coordinate the environmental conservation activities of our stakeholders.

UACJ Environmental Management Activity Policy

Slogan
We are grateful for the lush blue earth, and we will pursue aluminum to contribute to the formation of a sustainable society.

Item FY2023 Target FY2023 Focused Activities
Elimination of serious environmental accidents 1 or less serious environmental accidents
  • Preventing recurrence by sharing information on environmental troubles that have occurred in the past
Promotion of Energy-Saving Measures Reduce energy consumption per unit of production by 1% compared to fiscal 2022 for the entire Group (target of energy conservation law)
  • Detection and reduction of waste of fixed energy by mutual energy saving diagnosis
  • Understanding and prepareing for response of the revised Energy Conservation Law
Reduction of industrial waste Reduce industrial waste per unit of production compared to fiscal 2022
  • Promotion of management of long-term holding matter
  • Enhancement of measures to reduce waste plastics and setting up of reduction targets for fiscal 2030
Proper Management of Chemical Substances Reduce controlled chemical substances compared to fiscal 2022
  • Regarding the correct handling of chemical substances, grasping correct information by the new SDS, and implementation of education of workers.
Promotion of water management Reduction of water intake compared to fiscal 2022
  • Promotion of correction of water leaks
  • Consideration of measures to increase the amount of circulating water

Approach to Environmental Management

To advance environmental activities and raise the environmental awareness of employees, the UACJ Group has established the Environmental Committee as a body that represents the entirety of the Group.

The Environmental Committee, chaired by the President, has a membership consisting of UACJ executives, plant managers, and presidents of principal Group companies. The committee meets once a year, in principle, to be updated on the status of environmental activities, and discuss aims and objectives for the following fiscal year’s environmental activities.

To link environmental activity objectives with business activities and reliably work for their achievement, we have established the Safety & Environment Department as a unit responsible for implementation. The Safety & Environment Department holds meetings for Environmental Managers, conducts environmental inspections, and organizes subcommittees on topics such as industrial waste and energy saving in performing the function of implementing and refining environmental activities.

Environmental Manager Meetings

Environmental managers from UACJ’s three manufacturing plants and the extrusion, foil production, casting and forging, and precision-machined products businesses participate in Environmental Manager Meetings to confirm the Group’s progress toward its environmental targets and to exchange information on revisions to laws and regulations.

Environmental Management Organization

Fig. Environmental Management Organization

Environmental Management System

Environmental management systems are in place at each of the UACJ Group’s business locations, and nearly all of our plants have obtained the ISO14001 certification. Some of our smaller business locations have obtained the Eco-Action 21 certification by following the guidelines formulated by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment.

Following the September 2015 issuance of the updated ISO14001 standard, each business location worked to achieve compliance with the new standard. All locations successfully updated their certifications by the July 2018 deadline for doing so.

ISO14001:2015 Certifications (as of June 30, 2023)

Business Location Certifying Institution Certification Number Date Obtained
Nagoya Works JIC Quality Assurance Ltd. (JICQA) E440 2002.4
Fukui Works Det Norske Veritas (DNV) 00484-2002-AE-KOB-RvA 2002.4
Fukaya Works Japan Standards Association JSAE545 2002.7
UACJ Extrusion Oyama Corporation ASR E2111 2002.9
UACJ Extrusion Nagoya Corporation, Nagoya Works, Anjo Works JIC Quality Assurance Ltd. (JICQA) E440 2002.4
UACJ Extrusion Shiga Corporation ASR E2111 2002.9
UACJ Extrusion Gunma Corporation JIC Quality Assurance Ltd. (JICQA) E773 2004.1
UACJ Foil Corporation, Isesaki Works, Shiga Works, Nogi Works JIC Quality Assurance Ltd. (JICQA) E2442 2017.3
Nikkin Co., Ltd. JIC Quality Assurance Ltd. (JICQA) E2442 2018.6
UACJ Foundry & Forging Corporation ASR E2111 2002.9
UACJ Metal Components Corporation, Ena Works The High Pressure Gas Safety Institute of Japan 04ER-420 2004.3
UACJ Metal Components Corporation, Shiga Works Japan Quality Assurance Organization JQA-EM6018 2007.12
NALCO Koriyama Co., Ltd. JIC Quality Assurance Ltd. (JICQA) E1711 2007.2
Business Location Certifying Institution Certification Number Date Obtained
UATH(Sheet, Thailand) JQA (JAPAN QUALITY ASSURANCE ORGANIZATION) JQA-EM7557 2019.8*
UEXTHP (Extrusion, Thailand) UNITED REGISTRAR OF SYSTEMS 57487/B/0001/UK/En 2013.8
UEXCZ (Extrusion, Czech Republic) Lloyd's Register Group Limited 10302172 2005.11
UFOM (Foil, Malaysia) AFNOR CERTIFICATION N°2012/51248.3 2021.5*
UFFV (Casting & forging, Vietnam) SGS United Kingdom Ltd VN14/00100 2014.8
UMCM (Precision-machined metal components, Mexico) BSI EMS 572174 2012.12
YJI (Precision-machined metal components, Indonesia) BSI BSI 2010.1
UMCTH (Precision-machined metal components, Thailand) PERRY JOHNSON REGISTRARS, INC. C2019-03001 2019.11*

Eco-Action 21 (as of June 30, 2023)

Business Location Certifying Institution Certification Number Date Obtained
UACJ Metal Components Corporation, Narita Works Chibaken Kankyo Zaidan 0000341 2005.5
UACJ Aluminum Center Corporation, Utsunomiya Color Aluminum Works Institute for Promoting Sustainable Societies 12021 2017.10
UACJ Metal Components Corporation, Hiroshima Works Institute for Promoting Sustainable Societies 0012626 2018.12
UACJ Metal Components Corporation, Sendai Works Institute for Promoting Sustainable Societies 0012744 2019.4

On-site Inspections

On-site inspections are conducted by officers at Group business sites in Japan to prevent environmental troubles, formulate and promote execution of measures to reduce and eliminate risks, and to ensure full compliance with environmental laws and regulations.

Inspection teams consisting of environmental officers and members of the Safety & Environment Department visit the business sites and utilize a site’s environmental reports and on-site verification to inspect the status of compliance with laws and regulations and the progress of improvement measures. The Safety & Environment Department provides guidance and support for issues that need to be addressed. The inspections are part of our efforts to raise the Group’s level of environmental management.

In fiscal 2022, on-site verifications were conducted at 24 business sites in Japan and inspections were conducted via online meetings at 7 business sites overseas.

Status of Compliance with Environmental Laws and Regulations

In fiscal 2022, we recorded 1 incident of wastewater discharge exceeding environmental regulatory standards.

On July 15, 2022, the oil concentration in wastewater discharged from the wastewater treatment facility at the employee cafeteria of the UACJ Nagoya Works increased above the regulatory standard. The incident occurred when the restaurant operator cleaned oil stains on a kitchen ventilation fan filter with cleanser in a sink. The oil and water were then allowed to flow down the drain, and the amount of oil exceed the treatment capacity of the wastewater treatment facility. To prevent recurrence, we changed the standard process to have ventilation fan filters cleaned by an external cleaning company with the ability to properly treat the wastewater from the process.

Status of Compliance with Product Safety Laws and Regulations

In fiscal 2022, there were no cases of noncompliance with laws, regulations, or voluntary controls related to product quality, safety, or information labeling.

Environmental Investment

The UACJ Group invested approximately ¥800 million in environmental projects in fiscal 2022. Projects included updating the deodorization units (UACJ Aluminum Center Corporation, Utsunomiya Color Aluminum), installing new air conditioning equipment (all business sites), replacing parts of furnaces and converting fuel sources (all business sites), updating water supply and fire hydrant piping (UACJ Foil Corporation, Nogi), and updating electrical equipment that use PCB (all business sites).

Environmental Education

We conduct environmental education for all employees as another measure for fulfilling our social responsibility to protect the global environment.

The Safety & Environment Department and the environment units of individual business locations lead environmental education initiatives. The Safety & Environment Department conducts fundamental environmental education activities, the purposes of which are to enlighten and raise awareness of environmental protection, and promote understanding of the UACJ Group’s Basic Environmental Policies. Meanwhile, the environment units of individual business locations carry out environmental education initiatives to foster the skills and numbers of internal auditors needed to ensure that each business location conducts its daily activities with sensitivity toward the environment.

We encourage employees to obtain public qualifications in environmental fields and are developing a workforce that is capable of appropriately responding to trends in environmental regulation. Individual business locations conduct general environmental education programs and special education programs for employees engaged in work that could have significant environmental impacts.

Numbers of Employees with Environmental Management Qualifications (As of April 30, 2023)

Qualification Qualified Employees
Pollution Control Manager - Air 42
Pollution Control Manager - Water 53
Pollution Control Manager - Noise 12
Pollution Control Manager - Vibration 12
Pollution Control Manager - Noise & Vibration 16
Pollution Control Manager - Dioxins 30
Energy Manager 60
Certified Environmental Measurer 1
Manager Responsible for Industrial Waste Requiring Special Controls 62
Manager Responsible for Handling of Poisons and Deleterious Substances 16
ISO14001 Internal Auditor 396

* Data is for all UACJ and Group companies in Japan.

Environmental Awards from Outside Organizations

In fiscal 2022, the UACJ Group received the following environmental awards.

Recipient Award Sponsor Description
UATH Rayong Works Amata Best Waste Management Award Amata City Waste management 3R principles and the reduction of landfill waste
UACJ Extrusion Oyama Eco-Keeper Business Site (Level 3) Tochigi Prefecture Global Warming Countermeasures
UACJ Foundry & Forging