Initiatives for a Circular Economy and Pollution Prevention
The Tsubaki Group is advancing initiatives designed to help build a circular economy with a low environmental impact by creating higher economic value through the reduced use of resources while promoting the reduce, reuse, recycle (“3R”) approach.
* Three R’s: An abbreviation of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Reducing Total Weight of Waste Discharged
The Group is working to reduce waste (industrial and municipal waste) and improve recycling rates. In addition, we have set “total weight of waste discharged”, which includes valuable waste, as a proprietary management metric to further strengthen our resource recycling initiatives.
We incorporate these efforts as one of the evaluation criteria in the Group’s “EcoFactory Certification System” to promote continuous improvement activities at each of our sites.
In FY 2025, total waste discharged increased slightly compared to the previous fiscal year due to an increase in valuable waste resulting from increased production. Each business site continues to work on waste reduction and recycling, advancing efforts to achieve both effective use of resources and reduction of environmental impact.
Going forward, toward realizing a circular economy, we will work on advancing resource circulation and reducing environmental impact, thereby committing to building a sustainable future.
List of Total Weights of Waste Discharged, Broken Down by Business Site
Unit: t/year
| FY 2024 | FY 2025 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waste | Sale of Valuable Resources | Total Waste Discharged | Waste | Sale of Valuable Resources | Total Waste Discharged | ||
| Tsubakimoto Chain |
Kyotanabe Plant | 402 | 7,808 | 8,211 | 421 | 8,210 | 8,631 |
| Saitama Plant | 1,490 | 7,756 | 9,247 | 1,649 | 8,639 | 10,288 | |
| Hyogo Plant | 180 | 21 | 201 | 143 | 25 | 168 | |
| Nagaokakyo Plant | 244 | 664 | 908 | 229 | 706 | 935 | |
| Okayama Plant | 344 | 255 | 600 | 216 | 209 | 425 | |
| Fukui Mihama Plant | - | - | - | 51 | 0 | 51 | |
| Affiliated companies |
Tsubakimoto Custom Chain Co. | 147 | 614 | 761 | 141 | 642 | 783 |
| Tsubakimoto Sprocket Co. | 120 | 319 | 440 | 106 | 301 | 406 | |
| Tsubakimoto Bulk Systems | 26 | 169 | 195 | 23 | 161 | 185 | |
| Tsubakimoto Mayfran Inc. | 69 | 584 | 653 | 62 | 517 | 579 | |
| Tsubakimoto Iron Casting Co. | 1,920 | 104 | 2,024 | 1,911 | 142 | 2,052 | |
| Tsubaki Yamakyu Chain Co. | 56 | 56 | 112 | 53 | 50 | 104 | |
| Domestic total | 4,999 | 18,352 | 23,351 | 5,005 | 19,603 | 24,609 | |
Note: Waste = Industrial waste + General waste
List of Emission Intensity
| Total waste discharged/Emission intensity | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2024 | FY 2025 | ||
| Tsubakimoto Chain |
Kyotanabe Plant | 0.370 | 0.375 |
| Saitama Plant | 0.281 | 0.290 | |
| Hyogo Plant | 0.151 | 0.164 | |
| Nagaokakyo Plant | 0.082 | 0.079 | |
| Okayama Plant | 0.095 | 0.055 | |
| Fukui Mihama Plant | - | 0.623 | |
| Affiliated companies |
Tsubakimoto Custom Chain Co. | 0.137 | 0.144 |
| Tsubakimoto Sprocket Co. | 0.133 | 0.115 | |
| Tsubakimoto Bulk Systems | 0.041 | 0.047 | |
| Tsubakimoto Mayfran Inc. | 0.173 | 0.167 | |
| Tsubakimoto Iron Casting Co. | 1.316 | 1.235 | |
| Tsubaki Yamakyu Chain Co. | 0.032 | 0.030 | |
| Domestic total | 0.243 | 0.244 | |
Note: Total waste ÷ Production
Improvement of Recycling Rate
The Group takes a proactive approach to reducing and recycling waste.
In FY 2025, the combined total amount of industrial and municipal waste was 4,954 tons, representing a decrease from the previous fiscal year. In addition, the recycling rate remained high at a level of 98.5%.
Going forward, we will further strengthen initiatives at each site to reduce waste and promote resource circulation, and will contribute to reducing environmental impact and realizing a circular economy.
■ Target recycling rate (waste recycling rate): 99.9% by FY 2030
Waste Volume and Recycling Rate (Fiscal Year Average)
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Unit: t, %
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Industrial waste 4,708 4,419 4,503 4,635 4,587 General waste 412 383 367 364 418 Total 5,120 4,802 4,871 4,999 5,005 Recycling rate
(fiscal year average)96.8 97.0 98.6 97.9 97.5 -
* The scope of the report is 12 major business sites in Japan; overseas data is not included, as waste definitions vary by country.
Initiatives to Reduce the Use of Hazardous Chemical Substances
The Group is strengthening its initiatives in relation to hazardous chemical substances so that customers can use our products with peace of mind.
Specifically, we are promoting compliance with regulations in Japan and overseas, investigations into products containing chemical substances, and reductions to the chemical substances handled in production processes.
Management of Chemical Substances in Products
The Group investigates the substances contained in raw materials, parts, and other materials. By also working with our customers to gain an understanding of the actual content of such substances and to establish permissible levels, we continue to focus on reducing their use. We also distribute our Green Procurement Guidelines to our main suppliers. These guidelines specify laws and regulations applicable to hazardous chemical substances, the names of those substances, standard values, and so on. We encourage suppliers to understand the importance of controlling chemical substances and to cooperate in reducing their use.
Reducing the Use of Chemical Substances Subject to the PRTR Law
The Group surveys emissions of chemical substances specified by the Chemical Substance Removal Management Promotion Law (PRTR Law) and continuously works to reduce such substances in our production processes and switch to less hazardous substances. In FY 2025, seven business sites at four companies were subject to reporting related to the Law. The Group has adopted PRTR control as a management indicator under the EcoFactory Certification System, and is reducing the use of strictly controlled substances also at plants that are not required to report under this system.
FY 2025 data on chemical substances subject to the PRTR Law
Unit: kg/year
| Business Site | Substance No. | Substance Name | Amount Released | Amount Transferred | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atmosphere | Public Water Supply | Soil | On-Site Landfill | Sewer | Transferred to Off-Site Business | |||||
| Tsubakimoto Chain Co. | Kyotanabe Plant | 348 | 1-bromopropane | 8,600.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8,600 |
| Saitama Plant | 87 | Chromium and chromium (III) compounds | 69.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,000.0 | 35,069 | |
| 300 | Toluene | 15,000.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6,100.0 | 21,100 | ||
| Hyogo Plant | 438 | Methylnaphthalene | 3.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| Nagaokakyo Plant | 53 | Ethylbenzene | 919.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 440.0 | 1,359 | |
| 80 | Xylene | 1,324.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 634.0 | 1,958 | ||
| 300 | Toluene | 4,847.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,323.0 | 7,170 | ||
| Tsubakimoto Bulk Systems | 53 | Ethylbenzene | 2,776.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 384.0 | 3,160 | |
| 80 | Xylene | 3,157.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 436.0 | 3,593 | ||
| 300 | Toluene | 1,489.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 206.0 | 1,695 | ||
| 438 | Methylnaphthalene | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Tsubakimoto Mayfran Inc. | 53 | Ethylbenzene | 1,700.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 570.0 | 2,270 | |
| 80 | Xylene | 2,300.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 800.0 | 3,100 | ||
| 300 | Toluene | 10,000.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,500.0 | 13,500 | ||
| 737 | Methyl isobutyl ketone | 1,030.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 360.0 | 1,390 | ||
| 594 | Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether | 800.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 280.0 | 1,080 | ||
| Tsubakimoto Iron Casting Co. | 412 | Manganese and its compounds | 3,548.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 600.0 | 4,148 | |
| Magnesium and its compounds | 2,305.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 92.2 | 2,397 | |||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 111,594 | |||||
Note 1: Tsubakimoto Chain's Fukui Mihama Plant, Tsubakimoto Custom Chain, Tsubakimoto Sprocket, and Tsubaki Yamakyu Chain are not subject to the PRTR reporting.
Note 2: The values shown in the table above are compliant with laws and regulations.
Conservation of Water Resources
To protect our water resources, the Group is engaged in a global effort to reduce our total water use and water use intensity. At our business sites in Japan, we have adopted voluntary management values for each business site according to the management indicators identified in the EcoFactory Certification System and are taking steps to reduce our water use. In FY 2017, we began measuring water use at our business sites overseas and have adopted measures to reduce it.
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Water consumption (domestic)
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Water consumption (global)
Topics
Factory waste materials reused as furniture through employees’ DIY
Tsubakimoto Automotive Mexico (TAM)
At TAM, by selling used wooden pallets*1 to employees and having them reuse them as materials to make furniture, storage items, and the like through DIY, we are helping ensure effective use of resources.
We also thoroughly separate waste such as plastics and cardboard. By appropriately sorting waste at the stage at which it is generated, we promote resource recycling. This initiative contributes to reducing waste and improving the recycling rate.
