Environmental activities
Environmental Initiatives
We are contributing to building a recycling society by promoting environmental conservation activities according to our environmental policy.
Environmental policy
Philosophy
We at Sanyo Special Steel will give consideration to environmental conservation in all stages of our business operations to support a recycling-oriented society. We do so under the notion that environmental problems are important issues that should be solved by efforts of the entire human race. Further, we do so as a company that is located in a beautiful environment, having Himeji Castle, which is designated as a world cultural heritage and important national asset, to the north and the Seto Inland Sea National Park to the south.
Policy
Sanyo Special Steel, as a company that manufactures and distributes special steel and non-ferrous metal, will implement environmental management based on the following policies.
- We will recycle metal resources by manufacturing iron and steel products using scrap iron as the raw material.
- We will abide by environment-related laws, regulations and agreements, continue to improve the environment management system and strictly control business operations that may affect the environment.
- We will promote resource saving, energy saving, recycling of byproducts, reduction of wastes and reduction in emission of contaminated substances to prevent contamination of the environment, aiming for reduction of environmental impact in all stages of our business activities and contribution to environment conservation.
- We will establish environmental goals and targets for achievement of the environment policies. The goals and targets will be reviewed at least once a year and revised, if needed.
- The environment policies will be informed to all employees through education and training, and the general manager of the Environment Management Department will be assigned as the person responsible for controlling the environment system, aiming for complete management and control of the environment system.
Operation of the environmental management system
We have acquired ISO14001 Certification. This is the international standard for environmental management systems, and we are making efforts to establish this standard through our annual internal audit and external audit.
During the internal audit, junior employees are also in attendance at audit sites, which helps them understand the environmental management system. We are also making efforts to improve the system. In addition, we are devoting efforts to the ongoing training of internal auditors by sending managers to attend external workshops.
Among our subsidiaries, Santoku Tech Co., Ltd. has acquired ISO 14001 Certification.
Environmental patrol to check the status of industrial waste control and the life
Raising employee awareness
We believe that raising every employee’s awareness of the environment is important in tackling our environmental conservation activities, and we conduct regular environmental workshops targeting different employee levels such as training for freshman employees.
We have also established a reward program to encourage employees to obtain qualifications related to environmental conservation such as pollution prevention manager. Every year we also make efforts to raise employee awareness by having them individually prepare an environmental household ledger.
Every month, officers and division heads conduct environmental patrols and check on the management status of environment-related equipment.
Global warming prevention measures
We are making efforts to prevent global warming by changing to fuels with lower CO2. emissions and promoting a modal shift.
Working toward a low carbon society
Our company has actively promoted a changeover in the fuels it uses from heavy oils to city gas (natural gas). One of the distinct advantages of city gas (natural gas) is that it generates less carbon dioxide than heavy oils during combustion, and therefore has less environmental impact.
City gas accounts for 99.9% of the fuel consumed by our company (excluding electricity), and the CO2. reduction achieved through the changeover in fuel is almost complete. Therefore, we are now directing our attention to CO2. reduction by reducing our fuel usage through energy-saving measures.
Our company aims to reduce CO2. emissions by 2.6% compared to the BAU (business as usual; e.g., not taking any special measures) rate. As energy-saving measures to achieve this, we are increasing the use of regenerative burners for heating furnaces and the use of inverters in large motors (revolution controlled).
Using regenerative burners for heating furnaces essentially means refurbishing heating furnaces with energy-saving burners capable of recovering high-temperature exhaust gas generated during combustion (which was previously discarded) as highly efficient thermal energy used in combustion.
Using inverters in large motors means changing the control circuit of electricity to enable adjustment of the flow of air and water through the number of motor revolutions rather than control of the flow adjustment via a damper or valve aperture. This significantly reduces the electricity required during operation of motors, resulting in energy conservation.
Active introduction of energy conserving equipment
We will make efforts to introduce energy-saving equipment such as the use of inverters in the motors of dust collectors, combustion blowers, pumps, compressors, and air conditioning equipment, and we will introduce LED for factory lighting.
A heating furnace with energy-saving burners
A factory introducing LED lighting
Promotion of greening
We are making efforts to cultivate trees and plants in areas around the factory. The greening of our factory is expected to serve as a “green filter” for absorbing CO2.
Greening of our factory, expected to serve
as a “green filter” to absorb CO2
Initiatives to modal shift
We promote modal shift actively to reduce CO2 emission and energy consumption in logistics.
Transportation of products by railway
Contributing to the building of a resource-recycling society
We will promote the 3Rs of resources to contribute to building a resource-recycling society.
Active of energy conserving equipment
We use electric arc furnace steelmaking (which uses iron scrap as a main ingredient) to manufacture special steel, contributing to the recycling and effective use of iron resources. Around 95% of our raw materials including iron scrap are recycled (including internally recycled materials).
Recycling of by-products
To promote the development of a resource-recycling society, we are making efforts to achieve the full commercialization of electric furnace slag.
Electric furnace slag generated in manufacturing processes is used as an alternative to natural resources such as stone and sand, and is well regarded in various fields as an industrial product. The slag is commercialized through an aging process where it undergoes expansion and stabilization followed by particle size adjustment and inspection before being sold. Our electric furnace slag products are used mainly as roadbed material for roads and as an asphalt aggregate.
With the introduction of pressurized-steam aging equipment capable of pressure treatment at the highest level in Japan, we are supplying electric furnace slag products with less deterioration in quality and more reliable aging treatment of electric furnace slag in a short time. We are also introducing multifunctional sorting equipment to enable us to respond to our customers’ diverse needs.
To effectively utilize by-products and control the volume of landfill disposal, we are making efforts at recycling in various ways such as outsourcing waste treatment to recycling contractors, reducing waste water generated by reducing the water content of sludge, and recycling brick waste as refractory material.
Electric furnace slag
A pressurized-steam aging equipment