Highlight 2008

Debut of Toyo Mebius

The three logistics companies, Toyo Unso, Tokan Unyu, and Tokan Unso-Soko, each of which used to carry out physical distribution for the Toyo Seikan Group, were merged into Toyo Mebius Co., Ltd. as of October 1, 2008. It is hoped that the logistics functions of the Group will be integrated to construct an optimal logistics system allowing the Group companies to share logistics strategies.

Foundation of PET Refine Technology

In order to establish a solution company group with an emphasis on the environment, Toyo Seikan founded PET Refine Technology Co., Ltd. as of October 10, 2008 and acquired the PET bottle recycling business from PET Rebirth Co., Ltd. This is the only recycling company in Japan that realizes a PET-Bottle to PET-Bottle recycling system, thus playing an important role in realizing "cradle-to-cradle" recycling.

Participation in a Carbon Footprint Trial Project

In June 2008, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry established the "Carbon Footprint (CFP) System Practical Use and Diffusion Study Group." Toyo Seikan participated in this Group, cooperating in basic rulemaking and a trial project. In the CFP system, each product carries information on CO2 emissions throughout its life cycle from the mining of resources to disposal or recycling. Although no value is shown for the package itself because the CFP requires indication of the value for a final product, Toyo Seikan calculated the CO2 emission amounts for metal cans and supplied the data to Kagome and Sapporo Breweries in this trial project. In FY2009, we will collaborate with other companies in the packaging industry towards establishing specific calculation rules for individual packages.

Achievement of Zero Landfill Emissions for Two Consecutive Years

All waste from the Toyo Seikan plants is recycled, resulting in achievement of zero landfill emissions. The emissions had been significantly reduced to about 30 tons by FY2000 and, due to further improvement in waste separation, zero emissions were achieved in FY2007. Although zero emissions commonly mean a recycling rate over 99% or 99.5%, Toyo Seikan has achieved true zero emissions.