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Targets and Future Challenges
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During fiscal year 2006, we achieved our environmental targets in five categories out of ten.
Unfortunately we failed to achieve some of the targets because of lower production efficiency as a result of a rise in the composition ratio of products requiring a lot of energy to produce per kiloliter of liquor distilled and generating a great amount of waste. Our strategy to improve the freshness of our products by producing smaller lots also contributed to a loss in production efficiency.
As the composition ratio of our products largely depends on consumers’ buying habits, our future challenge is to implement environmental activities that will contribute to offsetting and surpassing the impact of changes in consumption trends.
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Targets achieved |
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Targets not achieved |
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| 1 |
Changes from FY 2002 to FY 2006 |
CO2 emissions in production
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| Targets and results for FY 2006 |
Efforts and status of achievement |
Future targets |
Reduce CO2 emissions during production
A 2% increase per kiloliter of produced compared to FY 2004
↓
A 7.8% increase from FY 2004
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Heavy oil and gas are used to generate steam for alcohol distillation, washing and sterilization. In the production process electricity is also used. We are trying to reduce CO2 emissions by implementing daily energy-saving activities and effective use of energy.
→ Despite our efforts to reduce CO2 emissions by introducing gas-fueled boilers and energy-saving measures, emissions increased due to an increase in energy consumption during alcohol distillation and decreased production efficiency caused by more frequent production of small lots. |
Target for FY 2007
A 2% increase from FY 2004 |
| 2 |
Changes from FY 2002 to FY 2006 |
CO2 emissions in distribution
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| Targets and results for FY 2006 |
Efforts and status of achievement |
Future targets |
Reduction of CO2 emissions in distribution
A 9% reduction per kiloliter of sales compared to FY 2004
↓
A 3.8% reduction from FY 2004 |
CO2 is generated during distribution of products shipped from our plants by road, rail and sea. By promoting effective distribution, energy-saving driving methods and modal shifting, we try to curve CO2 emissions.
→ We have reduced CO2 emissions by improving fuel costs of trucks at Takara Butsuryu System Co., Ltd., our transportation subsidiary and by increasing production at factories close to main markets, but still failed to achieve target reductions per kiloliter of sales. |
Target for FY 2007
A 10% reduction from FY 2004 |
| 3 |
Changes from FY 2002 to FY 2006 |
Water used in production
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| Targets and results for FY 2006 |
Efforts and status of achievement |
Future targets |
Reduction of water used during production
An 8% increase per kiloliter of production compared to FY 2004
↓
A 9.0% increase from FY 2004 |
Massive quantities of water are used in liquor production, to wash equipment and containers and to cool the products. By reusing and saving water, we are making efforts to reduce water consumption.
→ The amount of water used at Kurokabe-gura for cleaning sweet potatoes during production of imo-shochu (distilled spirit made from sweet potatoes) and for cooling during the distilling process has increased. The former was caused by production expansion and the latter by an increase in the volume of alcohol distilled. As a result we failed to achieve our target. |
Target for FY 2007
A 6% reduction from FY 2004 |
| 4 |
Changes from FY 2002 to FY 2006 |
Waste emissions in production
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| Targets and results for FY 2006 |
Efforts and status of achievement |
Future targets |
Reduction of waste from production plants (excluding by-products)
A 7% reduction per kiloliter of production compared to FY 2004
(Recycling rate of by-products and waste was 99.5% or above)
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A 22.7% increase from FY 2004
(Recycling rate of by-products and waste reached 98.0%) |
We promote waste recycling at plants, maintaining a high recycling rate, including the recycling of by-products. At present, we are reducing the total amount of waste released from plants, with the exception of by-products such as sake and mirin lees.
→ The amount of waste generated this year increased and included large quantities of sweet potato residue and wastewater generated in the imo-shochu distilling process. The increase is also attributable to a temporary suspension of equipment to reduce sludge volume. However, this was improved from fiscal 2005 following the introduction of an animal feed production plant that uses wastewater generated in the distilling process. |
Target for FY 2007
A 19% reduction from FY 2004 |
| 5 |
Changes from FY 2002 to FY 2006 |
Electricity usage in offices *1
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| Targets and results for FY 2006 |
Efforts and status of achievement |
Future targets |
Reduction of electricity usage in offices
A 3% reduction from FY 2004
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A 5.3% reduction from FY 2004 |
We endeavored to reduce electricity consumption by installing switches for each lighting fixture, removing unnecessary lighting and using air conditioning efficiently.
→ Although electricity consumption largely depends on the weather, we were able to achieve a reduction above the target. We consider the reduction of electricity usage in our offices as a barometer to measure how environmentally aware our employees are, because it is their efforts that allow us to achieve such target reductions. |
Target for FY 2007
A 3% reduction from FY 2004 |
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