Conserving Resources

We regard it as a given that corporations have a responsibility to society to protect the environment and preserve biodiversity. We therefore intend to improve our ratio of waste volume to material input by 10% by 2012 by linking environmental initiatives with business performance. This will be accomplished by eliminating inefficiencies through material flow cost initiatives, improving recycling rates for specific materials and other measures.

Reduce waste emissions
Promote zero emissions ⇒ Share waste processing information between Group companies and sites in Japan, and promote conversion of waste into valuable resources

Improve the ratio of waste volume to total input of core materials
Improve the ratio of waste volume to material input at lamp production sites in Japan by 2% ⇒ Ratio of quartz glass waste improved 18% at USHIO INC’s Harima Division, started implementing material flow cost accounting at Group companies

Effectively utilize water resources
Reduce input by 2% from input basis ⇒ 0.5% improvement

Eliminate the usage of hazardous chemical substances
Selection of key chemical substances ⇒ Agreed to advance to first target on elimination of VOCs

Reducing waste emissions and promoting effective reuse of waste resources are key themes in the Environmental Action Plan. We have achieved zero emissions at all Group companies and five out of seven business sites in Japan (excluding TSUKUBA USHIO ELECTRIC, INC.). Moreover, our 3R Committee has conducted a comparative study of waste categories, volumes and costs at three of our business sites in Yokohama, Gotemba and Harima. They have now started working to determine waste that has economic value and review waste categories.

We continued to promote use of MFCA, mainly at the Harima Division. By improving our processes, in particular reducing quartz glass off-cuts, we improved the waste volume to input ratio by about 9% in fiscal 2010, compared with fiscal 2009. A monthly resource production improvement meeting is held at Harima Division, to report on and promote initiatives in each department. We are also promoting measures to reduce the waste volume to input ratio of quartz glass at the Fukuzaki Plant of USHIO LIGHTING.

This theme has been newly added to Phase Three of the Environmental Action Plan. During fiscal 2010 we analyzed water usage by USHIO Group as a whole for fiscal 2009, and came up with measures to suit the level of need. At USHIO PHILIPPINES where water use was found to be particularly high, we switched to a recycling system for reusing water from April 2011, enabling us to reduce water use by 45% compared to the previous year.

In fiscal 2010 our efforts to reduce harmful chemical substances included gathering information about their status at each business site and selection of the chemical substances to be reduced. We decided to reduce our use of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) in line with the recommendation of the Japan Electronics and Information Technologies Association. In fiscal 2011 we will work to first develop a clear picture of VOC use and identify related problems, and then proceed to reduce them.

We will continue our activities from fiscal 2010 in 2011. The main initiatives are as follows. 1) Share information throughout the Group on waste processing methods, and promote conversion of waste into valuable resources 2) Promote material flow cost accounting, and examine other areas to apply it apart from quartz glass 3) Reduce water use by installing water-saving equipment 4) Continue analyzing water use at each site, and determine the main sites where action needs to be taken 5) Develop a clear picture of VOC use at each site, and propose measures to reduce use