CONTENTS
Editorial Policy
“Environmental Sustainability Report 2005” describes the basic policies related to the environment, environmental protection activ-ities in fiscal year 2004, and results of those activactiv-ities in the busi-ness operations of JFE Holdings, Inc., which is the holding com-pany of the JFE Group, and its operating companies. From this year, the Report also includes “Community Involvement” pages. This Report was edited/prepared in accordance with “Guidelines for Environmental Reports (FY2003 ed.)” issued by Japan’s Minis-try of the Environment (MOE) and “Sustainability Reporting Guide-lines 2002” issued by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
Scope of Report
This Report centers on JFE Holdings, Inc. and JFE Steel Cor-poration, which is responsible for the JFE Group’s steel busi-ness, and includes JFE Engineering Corporation and Kawasaki Microelectronics, Inc., which have also production facilities, JFE Urban Development Corporation, which is responsible for the Group’s urban development business, and JFE R&D Cor-poration, which is responsible for general research and devel-opment in the JFE Group.
* Data for FY2002 and before are totals of data for Kawasaki Steel Corp. and NKK Corp. before merger.
* Affiliated companies which are subject to consolidated accounting by these operating companies are not included in the scope of this Report except where specifically noted. * Tsurumi Engineering and Manufacturing Center is referred to as Tsurumi Center for short
in some cases.
* A part of activities in FY2005 is also included.
Organizations Included
Period of Environmental Sustainability Report 2005
Organizations Included
in Environmental Performance Data Totals
JFE Steel Corp.
East Japan Works (Chiba District/Keihin District) West Japan Works (Kurashiki District/Fukuyama District) Chita Works
JFE Engineering Corp.
Tsurumi Engineering and Manufacturing Center, Shimizu Works, Tsu Works Kawasaki Microelectronics, Inc.
Utsunomiya Works
In principle, fiscal year 2004 (April 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005).
Scheduled Publication Date of Next Report
September 2006
What is the JFE Group? Index/Editorial Policy What is the JFE Group?
···1
···2
A Message from the President of JFE Holdings Messages from the Group Operating Company Presidents ···3
···5
Environmental Problems in Chiba···7
Environmental Management Environmental Report I Reducing Environmental Loads in Business Activities Environmental Report II Contributing through Products and Technologies Research & Development of Environmental Technologies International Cooperation through Environmental Technologies ···12
···21
···32
···41
···44
Community Involvement Governance and Compliance Philanthropic Activities Employee Relations Customer Relations ···46
···47
···49
···51
Appendices Environment-friendly Products and Technologies Environmental Businesses Network of JFE Group Companies External Awards Received ···52
···55
···57
Third-party Comments/Editorial Postscript···58
What is the JFE Gr
oup?
The JFE name is composed of the letter “J” for Japan, “F” for steel (as in Fe, the atomic symbol of iron) and “E” for engineering. The acronym can also be thought of as standing for “Japan Fu-ture Enterprise,” i.e., a fuFu-ture-oriented Japanese business group centered around the core businesses of steel and engineering.
The JFE Name
JFE Steel
JFE Engineering
Main Works in Japan
JFE Holdings
For the detail of JFE Name, refer to:
Sept. 27, 2002
1-1-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo ¥2,803.6 billion (year ended March 2005) ¥460.6 billion (year ended March 2005) 103 (as of end of March 2005) Date est.
Head office Consolidated net sales Consolidated ordinary income Employees
JFE Steel Corporation
As an integrated steel producer ranking fourth in the world (2004) for crude steel production, the principal business of JFE Steel Corporation is the manufacture and sale of a di-verse range of unprocessed and processed steel products and raw materials. It also engages in peripheral businesses in-cluding transportation, plant maintenance and engineering.
JFE Engineering Corporation
JFE Urban Development Corporation
Kawasaki Microelectronics, Inc.
JFE R&D Corporation
http://www.jfe-holdings.co.jp/en/company/brand/index.htmlFor the detail of consolidation, refer to:
http://www.jfe-holdings.co.jp/en/company/tougou/index.html
Paid-in capital Employees Fiscal Year 2004 Consolidated net sales Consolidated operating income Consolidated ordinary income
¥239.6 billion 13,846 2,421.7 456.3 450.3 Billions of yen
The company is responsible for the engineering business that is the JFE Group’s core business together with steel. It pro-vides solutions based on advanced technologies in the fields of energy, principally pipelines; environmental-related activities such as waste disposal; water and waste-water engineering; steel structures such as steel frames; industrial machinery and steelmaking technologies.
Paid-in capital Employees Fiscal Year 2004 Consolidated net sales Consolidated operating income Consolidated ordinary income
¥10.0 billion 2,190 351.5 5.3 8.7 Billions of yen
This company helps create agreeable urban environments in the Tokyo area through three spheres of business: the devel-opment of large-scale complexes, involving the redevelop-ment of idle land owned by the JFE Group and the creation of new urban districts; the supply of distinctive, high-quality con-dominiums; and asset utilization, involving the development, management, and operation of land and buildings.
Paid-in capital Employees Fiscal Year 2004 Consolidated net sales Consolidated operating income Consolidated ordinary income
¥3.0 billion 49 31.5 2.4 2.2 Billions of yen
This company is an LSI vendor specializing in ASICs (applica-tion-specific integrated circuits) for customer, communication and office automation applications. It offers a comprehensive range of services to its customers from designing and devel-opment to manufacturing, testing, and shipping. It is particu-larly strong in circuits for digital cameras and LCD monitors, and holds substantial market shares worldwide.
Paid-in capital Employees Fiscal Year 2004 Consolidated net sales Consolidated operating income Consolidated ordinary income
¥5.0 billion 509 36.0 1.9 1.8 Billions of yen
This is a concept-creation research institution that undertakes further development of core technologies common to the JFE Group’s steel and engineering businesses, and opens up pos-sibilities for new technologies by combining them organically with others. Paid-in capital Employees ¥10.0 million 88 Works name East Japan Works Chita Works West Japan Works Chiba District Keihin District Kurashiki District Fukuyama District Nishinomiya Works
Main products Works name
Tsurumi Engineering and Manufacturing Center Shimizu Works Tsu Works Main products
Kawasaki Microelectronics
Works name Utsunomiya Works Main products Kawasaki Microelectronics Utsunomiya Works JFE Engineering Tsurumi Engineering and Manufacturing Center JFE Engineering Shimizu Works JFE Engineering Tsu Works JFE Steel East Japan Works (Keihin/Chiba) JFE Steel Chita Works JFE Steel East Japan Works (Nishinomiya) JFE Steel West Japan Works (Fukuyama/Kurashiki)Year ended March 2005
What is the JFE Group?
Hot rolled/cold rolled steel sheets, stainless steel sheets, coated steel sheets, UOE pipe, iron powder
Shield tunneling machines, diesel engines, container cranes, boilers, turbines, waterworks pipes, etc.
Steel frame structures
ASICs
Various large-scale steel structures (long/large bridges, water gates, caissons, etc.)
Stainless steel products
Seamless/welded steel pipes and tubes, castings
Plates, hot rolled/cold rolled steel sheets, coated steel sheets, electrical steel sheets, steel sheet piles, H-shapes, steel bars, wire rod material
Plates, hot rolled/cold rolled steel sheets, coated steel sheets, steel sheet piles, H-shapes, rails, UOE pipes
The JFE Group has pursued environmentally
sus-tainable business practices, based on coexisting
with and enhancing the environment, within our
corporate standards of business conduct and
en-vironmental policy. Nevertheless, since last
Decem-ber problems regarding wastewater pollution have
occurred at JFE Steel's East Japan Works in Chiba
Prefecture. The company is currently working hard
on clean-up measures under the direction of the
prefectural and local authorities. Let me take this
opportunity to once again express my most sincere
apologies for the many anxieties and concerns
caused to local residents and all those affected.
The incident in Chiba highlighted some
short-comings in the environmental measures we have
practiced to date. While it is imperative that we
work out a comprehensive remediation program in
Chiba, we fully realize that the issue is one
con-fronting the entire JFE Group. We are now in the
process of drastically revising our environmental
management system across all the Group
compa-nies, and we are redoubling our efforts to
imple-ment preventive measures at administrative and
operational levels.
I hope that the JFE Group will merit its
custom-ers' trust in the future through our determined
ef-forts to conserve energy and to reduce the
envir-onmental influence of our business activities, and
through our ongoing commitment to provide
tech-nology, products, and services that prevent global
warming and otherwise contribute to the
environ-ment as we have in the past.
In the area of steel production, there has been a
boom in steel demand in recent years, thanks to
economic development in China and other regions.
In this context, we believe that one of our most
im-portant corporate responsibilities is to provide our
customers with reliable supplies of steel products
that contribute to environmental sustainability
through our use of manufacturing processes with
the smallest environmental footprint in the world.
For example, by supplying high tensile strength
steel as a lightweight alternative for automobiles,
and products such as electrical sheets and silicon
materials for power-saving components in motors
and solar cells, we are contributing more than ever
before to arresting global warming.
In the engineering and energy sectors, we are
helping to reduce environmental loads and halt
glo-bal warming through a range of new technologies.
Among our achievements are technology for
moving dioxins and other harmful substances,
re-newable energy technologies such as wind power
and biomass power generation, energy saving
technologies such as air-conditioning systems that
utilize hydrate slurry, and the development of
dime-thyl ether (DME), an extremely promising clean fuel
for the 21st century.
In the recycling area, we are moving forward with
a number of interesting and synergistic recycling
businesses that utilize technologies in both
steel-making and engineering. These will support
regio-nal efforts towards sustainable recycling of
resour-ces.
This environmental sustainability report presents
the environmental initiatives currently being
pur-sued by the JFE Group companies. It also
de-scribes the background and remedial program
re-lating to our environmental problems in Chiba, and
discusses the relationships of the JFE Group with
the wider community. I hope this report will help
readers to better understand our environmental
practices. We welcome frank opinions and advice
concerning our environmental efforts in the future.
A Message fr
om the Pr
esident of JFE Holdings
To our readers
A Message fr
om the Pr
esident of JFE Holdings
The JFE Group - contributing to society with the world’s
most innovative technology.
1. To reduce environmental influence in all business operations
2. To make contributions through technologies and products
3. To make contributions through conservation of resources and energy
4. To promote communications with society
5. To promote international cooperation
Corporate Vision
The JFE Group considers the improvement of the global environment
to be of utmost importance for management, and promotes business
operations in harmony with the environment to create a prosperous society.
Environmental Philosophy
Environmental Policy
JFE endeavors to reduce present and future environmental loads and promotes the development of innovative technologies for reducing environmental loads.
JFE contributes to the creation of a better environment through the development and supply of advanced technology, equipment, and ecological products.
JFE contributes to the creation of a resource and energy saving society through recycling and energy supply businesses which give priority to preservation of the global environment.
As a member of regional society, JFE contributes to a better environment at the regional level in cooperation with local citizens, government and administrative authorities, and other businesses.
Messages fr
om the Gr
oup Operating Company Pr
esidents
As a company engaged in the steel business, a core segment for the JFE Group, we strive to reduce the environmental impacts of our business activities by util-izing the world's most advanced manufacturing tech-nologies. At the same time, we are working hard to contribute to the broader community by developing and supplying environment-friendly products and tech-nologies that meet social needs.
However, I am seriously concerned that our efforts to
protect the environment have been revealed as less than adequate by the water pollution incidents at our East Japan Works (Chiba) since last December. I offer my sincere apologies to the local residents and all those affected for the upset and trouble we have caused. I promise to do my utmost to establish a cor-porate basis that will ensure we fulfill our social respon-sibilities in environmental protection.
Since gaining ISO 14001 certification in 1999, JFE Engineering has carried out proper environmental management and under-taken activities aimed at reducing environmental impacts in shop manufacturing and site construction. Our business oper-ations are primarily related to social infrastructures, and we re-gard the environment and energy sectors as key business areas within that endeavor. We have a proven track record in supplying a wide range of environment-friendly products and technologies. In addition to our mainstay new-energy and
ergy saving products and technologies aimed at reducing en-vironmental impacts and halting global warming, we are also addressing social needs across a wide range of operations, right through to our recycling business which is helping to transform Japan into a recycling-oriented society. As a com-pany charged with the JFE Group's engineering segment, we will make every effort to minimize environmental impacts within our business activities, and we will continue to develop prod-ucts and technologies that are friendly to the environment.
Through our urban development projects, we aim to fulfill our goal of building pleasant and creative urban environments for people to live, work, and socialize. The redevelopment of unused factory sites and exist-ing commercial areas into large urban complexes is nothing other than town planning supportive of a whole range of social requirements. The scale of such operations has a major impact on the local environ-ment. For this reason, environment-friendly practices
are crucial and the question of how to reduce environ-mental impacts at the development stage is a vital is-sue.
Recognizing these obligations, we will build on the corporate strengths we bring from our manufacturing background and fulfill our social responsibilities in re-gard to the environment.
Our corporate goals are to provide optimum solutions to our customers based on our outstanding strengths in design and manufacturing technologies, and to be-come an ASIC-LSI vendor fulfilling its social responsi-bilities. Environmental activities are an important part of our social responsibilities and cover two main areas. The first area is reducing the environmental effects of our manufacturing processes, by means such as lower electricity usage and less use of chemicals designated
in Japan's PRTR Law. The second area is establishing manufacturing systems for products free of hazardous substances such as lead and halides.
Kawasaki Microelectronics is promoting these two activities in a planned and systematic fashion.
As a research institute, we are tasked with creating new concepts and developing the common basic technologies involved in the JFE Group's core busines-ses of steel and engineering.
New energy and environmentally sustainable tech-nologies are a major focus of our research and devel-opment efforts. The develdevel-opment of energy saving technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is one example.
In recent years, the concept of business continuity management (BCM) to counteract environmental awareness, security, safety or disaster prevention have gained renewed recognition. We regard these challen-ges as an important direction for future R&D and we will work proactively to develop technologies in these areas.
JFE Steel Corporation
JFE Engineering Corporation
JFE Urban Development Corporation
Kawasaki Microelectronics, Inc.
JFE R&D Corporation
Messages from the Group Operating Company Presidents
Messages fr
om the Gr
oup Operating Company Pr
esidents
1995 2000 2005
Environmental Protection & Energy Saving Activities at Works
Supply of Environment-friendly Products, Engineering Technology, Equipment
’97Startup of circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler turbinepower plant ’98Startup of wind power generation facilities
’01Tie-up for high efficiency fuel cell power generation (SOFC)
’03
’03
’03
’03
Startup of pilot-scale plant for
high efficiency fuel cell power generation (SOFC) Startup of BIGADAN process biogas system Order for JFE-Babcock & Wilcox Volund fixed-bed updraft gasifier for wood chips
Startup of RDF gasifying power generation plant
’04Startup of clathrate hydrate slurry (CHS)latent heat air-conditioning system
’97Startup of electric resistance typeash melting furnace ’00 ’00
Startup of JFE THERMOSELECT gasifying & melting furnace
Startup of U-tube ozone contact equipment
’01
’01
’01
Startup of home electric appliance recycling plant
Startup of environment-friendly high-efficiency arc furnace (ECOARC) Completion of seawater exchange-type hybrid caisson
’02
’02
Startup of high temperature gasifying & direct melting furnace
Startup of fly ash dioxin removal equipment High Clean DX
’02Startup of sewerage sludge circulatingfluidized bed incinerator ’04
’04
’04
’04
Order for Hyper 21 Stoker System Order for flue gas dioxin removal equipment (Gas-Clean DX) Sales startup of cleaning robot for boiler water tube (Boiler-Clean DX) Sales startup of photocatalyst air purification system
’96
’96
’96
’96
Establishment of Environmental Charter Establishment of Voluntary Action Plan by Japan Iron and Steel Federation
Settlement of Kawasaki pollution suit
Settlement of Kurashiki pollution suit
’02Start of JFE Group
’03Start of 5 operating companies
’97
’97
’97
Establishment of Voluntary Action Plan by Keidanren
ISO14001 certification of Keihin Works
ISO14001 certification of Mizushima (Kurashiki) Works and Utsunomiya Works (LSI plant)
’98
’98
ISO14001 certification of Fukuyama Works ISO14001 certification of Chiba Works
’99
’99
ISO14001 certification of Engineering Division ISO14001 certification of Chita Works
’03Start of Environmental ManagementNetwork System
’95Non-oriented electrical sheets for high efficiency motors ’99“Tsubasa” screw pile’00Development of Super-OLAC technologyfor shape steel ’03 ’03
Laminated steel sheet for food cans JFE EWEL
’04
’04
’04
Chromate-free steel sheet JC/JP New alloy steel powder for automotive parts Hat-shaped steel sheet pile 900
’96
’96
Steel-framed House
Start of waste plastic recycling for BF feed
’01
’01
’01
’01
Tailor Welded Blank As-sintered alloy steel powder (heat treatment-free) High-purity silicon for solar cells Lead-free free-cutting bars for machine structural use
’02
’02
Start of production of NF Board for concrete forms using recycled resin
Development of Super-OLAC technology for high carbon hot-rolled sheets
’98
’98
’98
’98
’98
Development of Super-OLAC technology for plates (high strength, high toughness, high weldability)
Ni-added high performance weathering steel Water-permeable steel sheet piles BF cement/BF granulated slag Chromate-free coated steel sheets
4th Period 5th Period
’95-’02
’03-Energy saving for global warming prevention Thorough effort for global warming prevention
•History of Environmental Measures in JFE Group
’05Overhaul of the environmental management system
Please refer to P.24 for the detail of energy saving activities Energy Saving Activities
Supply of Environmental Protection Equipment Supply of Clean, Energy Saving Technologies
Envir
onmental Pr
oblems in Chiba
I. Falsification of corporate measurement data
Under the wastewater management system at the East Japan Works, water quality is analyzed at the outlets to public waterways and at the drainage can-als exiting the wastewater treatment plant. If any readings exceed the criteria, the cause must be investigated and appropriate action taken (box in dotted lines in the figure). On the occasions in question, however, readings exceeding the standards prescribed in the Water Pollution Control Law and in the pollution control agreement with local authorities were altered to within the allowable lim-its in reports submitted to Chiba municipal and prefectural authorities. (1,109 results were falsified out of a total of 89,642 results from 2001 onward.) Moover, no one, from supervisors to executive level, was aware of these false re-ports. As a consequence, water quality control deteriorated, response to the quality problems was too late or overlooked, and wastewater containing con-taminants in excess of the limits was discharged into public waterways.
This report presents the causes and remedies relating to the following two areas:
I. Falsification of corporate measurement data
II. Violation of Water Pollution Control Law or pollution control agreement
Report on Pollution at JFE Steel’s East Japan Works (Chiba)
•Background
•Water quality management framework and exposed problem areas
The water quality problems that arose at JFE Steel's East Japan Works (Chiba) caused grave concern among local residents, the responsible authorities, and all those otherwise involved. We sincerely apologize for these incidents. To ensure that such contamination never happens again, we reaffirm environmental protection as being of the utmost importance in corporate gov-ernance. This has been a timely reminder of the seriousness of our responsibilities as a corporate citizen. We are going back to fundamentals and working to implement measures across the whole company to prevent any recurrence. This report outlines how the problems came about and discusses the remediation measures we have put in place.
The falsification of measurements taken by JFE Steel was due to inadequate controls in the management of operational data relating to water quality operations, as outlined below. We are amending these irregularities and have begun a radical over-haul of our entire environmental management system to pre-vent any recurrence.
Production process
Wastewater treatment plant
Public waterways
Cooling water and rainwater
Analysis data falsified Readings over limits Water quality analysis
Remedial action when water quality limits are exceeded
Wastewater outlet*1 Drainage canal*2
The Chiba Coast Guard Office began investigations on suspicion that JFE Steel had discharged water with alkalinity levels in excess of the standards set in the Water Pollution Control Law.
Press conference held voluntarily to inform the public.
On the same day, Chiba authorities issued a cleanup directive based on the pollution control agreement. JFE Steel filed a report in response to the directive.
JFE Steel filed a further report in response to the directive.
Chiba City issued suspension notices and improvement orders for some facilities based on the Water Pollution Control Law. JFE Steel concluded a new agreement and declaration with Chiba municipal and prefectural authorities and recommenced operations.
[2004]
[2005]
Dec.
Feb.
Feb. Mar. Mar. Mar.
16
3
17 9 16 24
As a result of the official investigation, JFE Steel voluntarily carried out a thorough internal investigation, which revealed that water quality data had been altered and wastewater exceeding the contaminant limits had been discharged from outlets since FY2001. Once appraised of the situation, the company immediately advised the Chiba municipal and prefectural authorities, and a full investigation was carried out under official supervision.
Overview
Chiba Initiatives
Poor leadership and inadequate staffing in Environmental Control Department
Inadequate checking and reporting of environmental data
Deficient awareness of environmental issues and need for compliance
Problems Actions taken in Chiba
Role of Environmental Control Department strengthened Better pollutant monitoring; timely response and remedial action
Greater environmental awareness and reinforced compliance
*3
For subsequent proceedings, see "Chiba Initiatives" and "Head Office and Company-Wide Initiatives" below. *1) Wastewater outlet:
Discharge point to public waters from a factory subject to the Water Pollution Control Law.
*2) Drainage canal:
Discharge point to public waters from a wastewater treatment plant subject to a pollution control agreement with local authorities.
*3) Inadequate in this instance.
System upgrades to enable faster and more precise detection of abnormalities
Contaminants in excess of the limits laid down in the Water Pollution Control Law or pollution control agreement, and excessive wastewater discharge levels at some outlets, were identified in the Chiba district. We are thoroughly investigating and remedying these problems to en-sure they can never happen again. This section reports the causes and countermeaen-sures in regard to three distinct problems: leakage of highly alkaline water from the West Plant breakwater and vicinity; excessive cyanogen levels at West No. 6 Line outlet; and abnormal dis-charge volumes at some wastewater outlets.
Envir
onmental Pr
oblems in Chiba
II. Violation of Water Pollution Control Law or pollution control agreement
• ECD restructured as a separate department (Jan. 28, 2005) The ECD was restructured as a separate department in recogni-tion of environmental protecrecogni-tion as the most important issue in corporate governance.
• ECD given greater authority (Feb. 16, 2005)
The ECD was given powers to order suspension of operations, and it was made clear that the environment is to take priority over all other concerns. The roles, responsibilities, and powers relating to environmental management in the ECD and in the va-rious plants and facilities were clarified.
• Increased staffing levels (Mar. 24, 2005)
The number of ECD personnel and the number of employees patrol-ling the facilities on a 24-hour basis were increased from 12 to 22.
• Crisis-response seminar (Feb. 7, 2005)
A seminar was held for the managers of all manufacturing de-partments and on-site subsidiaries in the Chiba district, to rein-force environmental awareness and compliance based on the recent incidents.
• Seminars on pollution control agreement (April 14 and 21, 2005) Retraining about the provisions of the pollution control agreement was conducted for managerial staff in the Chiba district at de-partmental, plant, office, and administrative levels.
• Staff encouraged to attain Environmental Pollution Control Operator (national qualification)
Staffs are encouraged to become certified Environmental Pollu-tion Control Operators so that the operaPollu-tional departments in-volved in production are environmentally aware and carry out environmental management voluntarily. Our target is a minimum of one qualified person responsible for each production process in the Chiba district.
Details about the background, remediation, and water quality data relating to the pollution problem have been posted on our website. • Online pollutant monitoring
An automatic analyzer will be deployed to enable abnormality monitoring using online measurements at wastewater outlets, drainage canals, and upstream production processes.
• More reliable analysis (April 1, 2005)
To improve the reliability of measurement data, personnel who take readings now need to be certified by “Specified Measure-ment Laboratory Accreditation Program”.
• Quicker analysis and reporting system set up (Jan. 22, 2005) As well as shortening the time taken for analysis, we have en-sured that any abnormalities are reported to the water quality manager as soon as discovered. A system has been estab-lished for reporting abnormalities immediately to the relevant au-thorities in Chiba, enabling decision making and response to sit-uations as they arise.
• Checking and sharing of environmental data (Feb. 3, 2005) Mechanisms have been established so that the environmental data collected by the ECD is double-checked by the supervisor, checked by the head of the Environmental & Plant Safety Sec-tion, then distributed promptly within the company. A system has been set up to enable prompt and appropriate remedial ac-tion in the event of an abnormality. The head of steelworks, deputy, and department managers are encouraged to verify data and share information at their daily meetings.
Role of Environmental Control Department
(ECD) strengthened
Greater environmental awareness
and reinforced compliance
Disclosure to local residents
System upgrades to enable faster and
more precise detection of abnormalities
Better pollutant monitoring; timely response
and remedial action
Public land
1 6
2
3 4 5
7
8 9 10
1
2
3 4
5 6
Dust smelting furnace
East Plant West Plant
Oihama Plant
N
Outlet from West No. 6 Line: Cyanogen, pH, chromium (VI), COD*1, SS*2 Outlet from West No. 7 Line: Cyanogen, COD
Outlet from New central No. 1 Line: Cyanogen, nitrogen, fluorine Outlet from North coast Line (north): n-hexane extracts*3 Outlet from South coast Line (south): n-hexane extracts Outlet from West No. 5 Line: n-hexane extracts Outlet from West No. 4 Line: n-hexane extracts, pH Outlet from South No. 1 Line: n-hexane extracts, SS North wastewater No. 1 outlet: Nitrogen, fluorine South wastewater West No. 1 outlet: n-hexane extracts East wastewater Central No. 1 outlet: n-hexane extracts
Outflow of alkaline water from the West Plant breakwater and vicinity
Parameters exceeding permissible levels at wastewater outlets
West integrated wastewater treatment drain: n-hexane extracts, COD, SS, nitrogen West integrated effluent treatment drain: n-hexane extracts, COD, SS Activated sludge treatment drain: Cyanogen, n-hexane extracts, COD, SS, nitrogen, phosphates, soluble iron East integrated iron & steel wastewater treatment drain: n-hexane extracts, COD, SS, nitrogen No. 5 pump station wastewater treatment drain: COD
Oihama wastewater treatment drain: COD, nitrogen, soluble iron
Parameters exceeding permissible levels at drainage canals 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1 2 3
4 5 6
11
•List of excessive contaminants in wastewater at drainage canals and outlets (April 2001 to December 2004)
*1) COD: Chemical Oxygen Demand:
The amount of oxygen consumed when organic matter in water is broken down by an oxidizing agent. Used as an indicator of the amount of organic waste in outflows to inland and coastal waters. *2) SS: Suspended Solids:
The amount of insoluble particulate matter in wastewater. Used as an indicator of water turbidity. *3) n-hexane extracts:
Excessive cyanogen levels at West No. 6 Line outlet (cyanogen compounds)
Envir
onmental Pr
oblems in Chiba
1 It is presumed that the slag*1 placed in the vicinity of the northwest
seawall of the West Plant and the calcium content of the topsoil laid in the public land dissolved in rainwater, turning into excessively alkaline water which leaked into the sea from the drip holes in the breakwater and the lower parts of the seawall.
The topsoil laid in the public land was excavated and replaced with pit sand.
Causes:
Leakage of excessively alkaline water from the West Plant seawalls and vicinity
The causes of the cyanogen seepage from the dust smelting furnace were identified as follows:
(1) The cyanogen contained in the circulating water in the wet-type dust removal plant is dispersed as mist from the cooling tower. (2) Seepage of dewatering sludge and wastewater leaks occurs
during the process of removing the sludge in the thickener*2 .
Some of this material adheres to the tires of the sludge trucks and spreads onto the roads.
(3) Circulating water containing cyanogen seeped through the fine cracks in the concrete walls of the sedimentation tank.
(4) Some of the cyanogen-contaminated sludge and wastewater collected while cleaning the equipment (wet-type dust collector, sedimentation tank, hot water tank, cold water tank, etc.) spilled outside during the process of transfer and transportation.
Causes:
Discrepancies between reported and actual volumes of wastewater at some outlets
There were discrepancies between reported and actual volumes of wastewater discharged at some outlets. Among probable causes are water seeping out of aging underground clean water pipes and industrial water pipes, and inflow of water overflowing from purification facilities.
Causes:
The inflowing water in the vicinity was investigated, leaking underground pipes were repaired, and overflowing purification water was recovered. We intend to implement further measures, including early detection and repair of leaking pipes, and planned replacement of aging underground pipes.
Measures to prevent recurrence:
Measures to prevent recurrence:
A weir was build on steel sheet piles erected along the bound-ary with the public land to prevent rainwater from seeping from the plant premises into the public land.
Topsoil treatment (Mar. 31, 2005)
Prevention of rainwater outflow
to public land (May 27, 2005)
Measures at the West Plant
- Dust smelting furnace shut down (Jan. 22).
- Accumulated dust and soil in the vicinity completely removed (Jan. 25-28).
Measures to prevent recurrence:
- Surrounding area paved with concrete. - Breakwater height raised from 30 cm to 50 cm (completed Mar. 2).
Cleaning of area around the dust
smelting furnace
Improved rainwater treatment
near the dust smelting furnace
The following emergency measures were
implemented on discovery of the excessive
cyanogen levels:
We are considering installing a cut-off wall at the rear of the seawall, increasing the seawall height, and building an em-bankment in addition to the west plant.
To prevent overflow of rainwater onto roads, we are considering dividing open yards from neighboring roads by dams and ditches. The north seawall was
raised one meter to prevent surface rain-water from seeping from the seawall.
Water stoppage at the rear of the seawall
Rainwater at open yards
Prevention of rainwater outflow
from the seawall (Mar. 19, 2005)
Measures to prevent water leakage
from Chiba premises
Instead of a cooling tower, the circulating water will be cooled by an indirect cooling method, completely preventing mist dispersal.
A sludge basin (steel) and granulator will be installed. The de-hydrated sludge travels directly into the granulator, preventing spillage of any sludge and wastewater outside the dehydrator. Spillage during transportation will be prevented by granulation.
The cracks in the sedimentation tank, hot water tank, and cold water tank are being repaired and linings installed for better seepage control. The bottom of the sedimentation tank is be-ing made convex to improve outflow of the accumulated sludge and to facilitate inspection.
Additional sedimentation tanks are being installed to reduce the amount of accumulated sludge. Some of the circulating water will be removed to prevent concentration of salts. Sen-sors are being installed to improve water quality monitoring. The removed water and rainwater around the facility will be stored temporarily in a new embankment being built. The wa-ter will then be fully recovered and discharged following cya-nogen removal at a new cyanide water treatment facility.
Prevention of mist dispersal
from the cooling tower
Measures to prevent spillage during
discharge of the dehydrated sludge
Measures to prevent water leakage
from the sedimentation tank
Measures to prevent spillage during cleaning
Level of the north seawall raisedRemedial measures were discussed and
agreed to at the Special Committee on
Cyano-gen Countermeasures, part of the Chiba City
Environmental Council. Prior consultations
have been completed, and we are proceeding
with improvement work so that the dust
smelting furnace can recommence operation.
Envir
onmental Pr
oblems in Chiba
Chairman : Vice chairman: Members :
President of JFE Steel
Tomonori Matsuo, President of Toyo University
Prof. Yutaka Terashima (Faculty of Human Environment, Osaka Sangyo University), JFE Steel vice president and directors (2), heads of steelworks and production centers (3)
Public Relations Sec., General Administration Dept., JFE Steel Tel. +81-3-3597-3166
Contact for further information
Information about the pollution incidents in the Chiba district:
http://www.jfe-steel.co.jp/works/east/chiba/environment2.html In dismantling the existing cooling tower in preparation for instal-ling measures to prevent mist dispersal from the dust smelting furnace, we failed to carry out prior consultation procedures with local authorities as required under our pollution control agreement with local authorities. Also, during the emergency transfer of cya-nide water, we caused problems such as leakage above ground
from part of the storage area. The problems arose because the departments concerned divided up tasks to speed up the reme-dial work. Since then, we have insisted that staff understand and follow the provisions in the agreement, and we are making steady improvements in compliance with the agreement and in close liai-son with Chiba municipal and prefectural authorities.
Inadequate prior consultation as required under the pollution control agreement
This department was established at head office to propose, plan, and promote policies related to the environment, and to coordinate and supervise efforts across the whole Group.
The Auditing Department is staffed by environmental special-ists and performs environmental auditing across the whole Group in regard to:
A CSR Section was established at head office to fully address and promote corporate social responsibility. In July, a CSR committee was set up, headed by the company president.
This council was established directly under the president to solicit opinions from professionals outside the company re-garding JFE Steel's handling of environmental issues. The first meeting was held on May 24, and members carried out an in-spection of the Chiba site on August 31.
A system of internal environmental diagnostics was introduced, whereby environmental management at each steelwork and produc-tion process is checked by personnel from another producproduc-tion area.
To raise environmental awareness, the entire 1,800 member en-gineering staff at JFE Steel will be required to pass the national qualification exams for Environmental Pollution Control Operator during the three years from 2005.
Four auditors, including external auditors, look at how environ-mental management duties are being performed across the whole Group. They interview the directors concerned and conduct site inspections in conjunction with the environmental audits carried out by the Auditing Department.
Environmental Control Department
established (April 1, 2005)
Environmental auditing by head office
Auditing Department
CSR Section established (April 1, 2005)
Environmental Management Advisory
Council established
Regular internal environmental diagnostics
Encouragement of Environmental Pollution
Control Operator qualification
Environmental auditing by qualified auditors
Site inspection by external members (water treatment plant)Head Office and Company-wide Initiatives
To prevent problems in the future, in addition to measures in Chi-ba, we have taken the following company-wide initiatives to raise environmental awareness and improve the environmental man-agement system across the whole JFE Group.
Ongoing Initiatives
JFE Steel is taking steps in Chiba, at head office, and across the whole company to tackle the recent problems. Everyone is com-mitted to making our environmental management system more effective. The entire JFE Group will continue to strengthen our envir-onmental performance.
1) Environmental management systems 2) Environmental performance 3) Administrative reporting 4) Waste management
Each area at JFE Steel : 14 JFE Group companies:
Total 6 times Total 23 times
•Audits completed (as of Aug. 31)
Head Office Auditing Department in action
*1) Slag:
Byproduct of steel production. *2) Thickener:
Treatment facility that removes the liquid in wastewater.
Envir
onmental Management
Objectives and Results for Global Environmental Activities
Operation of Environmental Management
Overhaul of Environmental Management
Environmental Management System
Environment-related Activities
Communication with Society Relating Environment
Environmental Accounting
····12
···13
···14
···15
···16
···17
Envir
onmental Management
Objectives and Results
for Global Environmental Activities
Objectives for 2005
Objectives for 2004 Results in FY2004
(Energy savings rate = percentage energy saving for the year (kWh/yr) relative to total power consumption for the previous year (kWh/yr))
Reduce energy consumption at production divisions by at least 1%.
Reduce the use and discharge of fluoric acid and sulfuric acid.
Reduce waste by enhancing production technologies and extending equipment life span.
Achieved 1.2% energy savings by adopting reverse osmosis membranes with a low pressure-loss design and inverter-type pumps in pure water manufacturing, and by improving the processing capacity of product inspection devices.
Improved the cleaning process and reduced usage of fluoric acid and sulfuric acid by 4.5% and 0.87% respectively.
Expanded the scope of application of technology developed last year for reducing resist usage, and reduced waste oil by 0.35%.
Promote energy saving and achieve an energy savings ratio of at least 0.8%.
Reduce emissions of PRTR substances and greenhouses gases.
Reduce waste generation by 3%.
(p.29) (p.29)
Promote global warming mitigation: · Measures based on Japan Iron and Steel Federation's Voluntary Action Plan.
Promote byproduct recycling: · Promote resource recovery from dust. · Greater use of slag.
Reduce environmental impacts:
· Reduce emissions of harmful substances.
· Unit energy consumption reduced by 0.4% from FY2003 level.
· Unit CO2 emissions reduced by 1.1%
from FY2003 level.
· Achieved 99.5% recycling rate by promoting dust recycling outside company. · Developed and commercialized a retaining paving material called "Road Cool" for mitigating the heat-island effect.
· Dioxin emissions reduced by 27% from FY2003 level to 8.8 g-TEQ/yr.
· Wastewater containing toxins in excess of standards in environmental law and agreements discovered at East Japan Works (Chiba).
Promote measures to mitigate global warming · Based on Japan Iron and Steel Federation's Voluntary Action Plan.
Promote by-product recycling · Look at developing and applying technologies for recycling dust and slag.
Overhaul the environmental management system:
· Take steps to strengthen the EMS and prevent recurrence of the wastewater problems in Chiba.
· Revise the company-wide EMS.
Work toward a new regulatory system: · Draw up policies to reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds.
(p.23)
(p.25)
(p.7-10) (p.27)
Environmental Management
Energy saving in production divisions:
Reduce landfill disposal rate of construction site waste to 40% or less.
Promote resource saving and environment-friendly office activities; extend green procurement of office products.
Generally achieved energy saving targets.
24%, target achieved (total waste volume 7,870 tons)
Switched to eco-labeled products for high-cost items
(such as copier paper and toner cartridges).
Promote energy saving:
Promote reduction of construction site waste going to landfill and reduce landfill disposal rate to 35% or less in the 3 years up to FY2007.
Promote resource saving and
environment-friendly office activities; raise green procurement ratio by 2% (cost basis) from FY2004.
Tsurumi Center: Shimizu Works : Tsu Works :
Tsurumi Center and Tsu Works: Target achieved. Shimizu Works: 0.93, target unachieved through a 20% reduction in operating ratio.
Tsurumi Center: 1% reduction in unit energy consumption (electricity usage per unit operating time (kWh/hr)) from FY2004 level
Shimizu Works: Less than 0.85 Tsu Works: Less than 0.85
[Unit = ratio of unit energy consumption (electricity usage per unit production volume (kWh/ton)) to FY1997 levels]
Less than 0.93 Less than 0.89 Less than 0.93
(Landfill disposal rate = total waste volume less the recycled and reduced volume, as a percentage of the total volume)
(p.28)
(p.28) [Unit = ratio of unit energy consumption (electricity usage
per unit production volume (kWh/ton)) to FY1997 levels]
JFE Steel
JFE Engineering
JFE Steel Environmental Committee
JFE Engineering Environmental Committee
JFE Urban Development Environmental Committee
Kawasaki Microelectronics Environmental Committee
JFE R&D Environmental Committee
Affiliated Company Environmental Committee
Affiliated Company Environmental Committee
Envir
onmental Management
“JFE Group Environmental Management”
using 3-Tiered Committee System
•Environmental Management System
The JFE Group has employed all its corporate strengths to protect the environment in our business activities, based on our environmen-tal philosophy of “The JFE Group considers the improvement of the global environment to be of utmost importance for management, and promotes business operation in harmony with the environment to create a prosperous society”. By supplying a huge variety of prod-ucts, technologies, and services that utilize the various environment and energy-related proprietary technologies we have developed over many years, we are taking positive steps toward solving challenges such as global warming, resource recycling, and energy issues. JFE is dealing with environment-related problems with a 3-tiered committee system consisting of 1) JFE Environmental Committee chaired by the President of JFE Holdings, as the highest decision-making body for environment-related problems common to the Group, 2) Environmental Committees in each of the Group’s five op-erating companies, and 3) Affiliated Company Environmental Com-mittees at affiliates under each of the operating companies. JFE has also established a Group Environmental Liaison Committee made up of persons responsible for environmental matters at JFE Holdings and the five operating companies to smoothly communicate related to the environment. In a similar manner, each of the operating
com-panies decides and implements environmental measures for the indi-vidual company and holds liaison meetings with its subsidiaries. Environmental problems concerning wastewater (water quality) since last December have been identified at JFE Steel's East Japan Works (Chiba). In response, the environmental management system is being completely overhauled across the entire JFE Group. We will make every effort to avoid any recurrence of such problems by im-plementing preventive measures at the managerial and operational levels, and in the production facilities themselves.
For details on the environmental problems in Chiba, see pages 7 to 10.
Environmental
Committee
JFE Group Environmental Liaison Committee
Members: Persons responsible for environment at JFE Holdings and each operating company
Affiliated Company Liaison Committee
Members: Persons responsible for environment at
each operation company and each affiliated company
Environmental Committee Environmental Committee (Operating Company) Environmental Committee (Affiliated Company)
Members
Chairman President of JFE Holdings
Directors responsible for environmental matters at JFE Holdings and each operating company
President or director responsible for environmental matters at the operating company Managers of related departments, persons responsible for environment at each works, centers
Director responsible for environmental matters Managers of related departments
JFE Environmental Committee
Operation of Environmental Management
Members Chairman
Members Chairman
Environmental Control Dept.
Envir
onmental Management
JFE Steel's Environmental Management
JFE Engineering's Environmental Management
In view of the environmental problems at the East Japan Works (Chi-ba), JFE Steel initiated reforms of the environmental management framework at its production centers and at head office. At the pro-duction centers, the Environmental Control Departments, previously part of the Energy Department, were split off as separate depart-ments in their own right, with defined and enhanced authorities relat-ing to environmental management. At head office, a new Environ-mental Control Department was established in April 2005 to improve and maintain environmental governance across the whole company. Environmental committees have been set up at each level of the cor-porate organization (company-wide, production centers, and affiliates and subsidiaries), as shown in the figure below. These form a framework for promoting environmental management across JFE Steel, with environ-mental management departments at the head office and production cen-ters running the committees in a functional capacity. The Environmental Committee is chaired by the president of JFE Steel. Its function is to delib-erate and communicate substantive matters such as environmental man-agement-related policies affecting the whole company. The Environmen-tal Management Committees are responsible for implementing environmental management geared to the particular production center. The role of the JFE Steel Group Environmental Liaison Committee set up between JFE Steel and its subsidiaries is to support environ-mental management at the subsidiaries by conveying relevant infor-mation. In addition, in May 2005 an Environmental Management Advisory Council was established directly under the president to seek views from specialists outside the company regarding JFE Steel's handling of environmental issues, thus extending the man-agement framework beyond internal mechanisms alone.
Environmental management at JFE Engineering was formerly conducted by two committees overseen by the JFE Engineering Environmental Committee, which is chaired by the president of JFE Engineering. The JFE Engineering Environmental Experts Committee supplemented the environmental committees at the practical level, maintained the company-wide environmental man-agement system, and considered matters needing improvement. The role of the JFE Engineering Group Environmental Liaison Committee, on the other hand, was to encourage environment management activities at the engineering group companies and to consolidate their efforts.
In July 2005, with the aim of further strengthening the environ-mental management system and building and running an effec-tive environmental risk management system, a new Environmen-tal Control Section was established to act as the administrative authority in regard to environmental matters for the JFE Engineer-ing Group as a whole. In addition, a Regular MeetEngineer-ing of Environ-mental Control Section was established as a new committee whose role is to prepare, implement, and supervise improvement policies, and to bring together the efforts of the staff in each area. Thus, the framework now consists of three committees under the JFE Engineering Environmental Committee.
Enhanced Environmental Auditing
Following the environmental problems at the East Japan Works (Chiba), JFE Steel appointed an environmental specialist to the Auditing Department at head office. Internal auditing of environ-mental performance and compliance with environment-related laws and regulations is now carried out at each production center and Group company within JFE Steel. Internal environmental au-diting of operating companies by their head office is now being extended to JFE Engineering and other operating companies.
•JFE Engineering Environmental Management System •JFE Steel Environmental Management System
Chiba District East Japan Works
Environment and Energy Dept. Keihin District
Environment and Energy Dept.
East Japan Works
JFE Engineering Environmental Committee
JFE Engineering Environmental Experts Committee
JFE Engineering
Keihin Environmental & Plant Safety Section Chiba Environmental & Plant Safety Section
Energy Dept. Keihin District Chiba District
Energy Dept. Environmental management division split off (as at East Japan Works)
Affiliates and Subsidiaries
Affiliates and Subsidiaries
Regular Meeting of Environmental Control Section
(Administrative)
JFE Steel Group Companies Environmental Liaison Committee
JFE Engineering Environmental Liaison Committee [Former structure] [New structure]
Environmental Control Section
New
JFE Steel Environmental Management Advisory Committee
Company-wide
Production Centers
JFE Steel Environmental Committee
JFE Steel
Environmental Management Committees
Overhaul of Environmental Management
Environmental Management
Envir
onmental Management
Environmental Education
Status of the JFE Environmental
Management System
Environmental Auditing
The JFE Group aims at developing a comprehensive environ-mental management system based on its environenviron-mental phi-losophy. As such, it is promoting voluntary and continuous environmental activities by each company in the JFE Group based on ISO 14001 certification. As shown in the table be-low, three operating companies with production facilities have all received ISO14001 certification, either for individual works or at the company level. These include JFE Steel, JFE Engin-eering, and Kawasaki Microelectronics.
Accreditation was temporarily suspended on Feb. 4, 2005 at JFE Steel's East Japan Works (Chiba), and recommenced on Aug. 4, 2005 following a review of the environmental man-agement system.
In order to implement a high-quality environmental manage-ment system, it is important to understand whether the sys-tem is operating appropriately, and whether performance is being continually improved. At JFE, in addition to external in-spection by certification authorities, employees experienced in environment-related work participate in internal auditing. Also, the training of in-house environmental inspectors is being pro-moted. Teams of employees led by external experts carry out internal auditing in JFE in order to ensure transparency in in-spection. Issues pointed out by internal or external auditing are used as a basis for revising and continuously improving the system, taking into account the changes in the surround-ing conditions.
The JFE Group conducts environmental education at all levels to deepen the understanding of each employee and encour-age individual efforts to improve the environment as part of regular work.
In each operating company, environmental education is in-corporated in training programs for new employees and pro-motion, and also includes annual programs at each level, cov-ering social trends related to environmental problems, the significance of the environment to JFE and measures being taken by the company, the responsibility of individual employ-ees, and the importance of environmental management. Based on an annual schedule, each production center con-ducts periodical environmental education (once/year) such as environment-related regulations for general employees, em-ployees engaged in designated work, internal environmental auditors, etc. as part of its environmental management sys-tem.
JFE GALVANIZING & COATING JFE URBAN RECYCLE NKK TUBES JFE REFRACTORIES JFE CHEMICAL JFE KANKYO JFE MATERIAL JFE Soldec JFE CONTAINER JFE LOGISTICS TOYOHIRA STEEL
JFE METAL PRODUCTS & ENGINEERING JFE SHOJI HOLDINGS
JFE Mie Tech. Service JFE KOKEN Fuji Kako
Philippine Sinter Corporation JFE MINERAL
JFE Environmental Services NKK BARS & SHAPES JFE KOHNAN STEEL CENTER JFE Plant & Service
•Environmental Management System Certification Certified in Operating Companies
Company/Works Certified in
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
JFE Steel, East Japan Works (Keihin) JFE Steel, West Japan Works (Kurashiki) Kawasaki Microelectronics
JFE Steel, West Japan Works (Fukuyama)
JFE Steel, East Japan Works (Chiba including Nishinomiya plant) JFE Steel, Chita Works
JFE Engineering May Oct. Oct. March July July Dec. 1997 1997 1997 1998 1998* 1999 1999 May May May April July Dec. Jan. Feb. March March Sep. Dec. Dec. Feb. June Sep. Nov. Dec. Dec. May March March 1997 1997 1997 1999 1999 1999 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001 2001 2002 2004 2005
•Environmental Management System Certification Certified in Affiliated Companies
Company Certified in
*Accreditation suspended from Feb. 4 to Aug. 4, 2005
Environmental Management System
Envir
onmental Management
Disaster-prevention Training
Status of Green Purchasing
In 2002, the JFE Group established a common group-wide set of “Green Purchasing Guidelines” for purchases of office supplies and parts/materials for production. Application is currently being expanded to affiliated companies.
The JFE Group conducts a variety of training programs to cope with emergencies or unforeseen events. At its West Ja-pan Works (Kurashiki), JFE Steel participates in a joint training program at the Mizushima Industrial Complex. JFE Engineer-ing is conductEngineer-ing trainEngineer-ing in coastal cleanup operations should an oil spill occur.
Environment Month Activities
As part of its environmental management system, the JFE Group voluntarily conducts a unique program of Environment Month Activities at each works in June of each year to raise employee awareness of the environment, as follows.
•Main activities
• Adequate study of required quantities before purchase to minimize purchased amounts.
• Consideration of environmental loads over the entire life cycle of final products, in addition to price, quality, delivery schedules, etc.
• Requests for and cooperation with environmental protection efforts of suppliers on a daily basis.
Examples of green purchasing:
· Stationeries, office equipment
· Recycled oil, solvent containers, packaging materials, electric/natural gas/hybrid vehicles
•In outline, the Guidelines specify
Coastal anti-pollution training at Tsu Works Environmental training (recovering spilled oil)
Joint disaster-prevention training at Mizushima Industrial Complex · Works Environmental Patrols
· Environmental training
· Facility inspections/chemical inventory check · Lectures on the environment
· Environmental education under ISO14001 · Public Road Cleanup Operations · Guided plant tours
· Fund-raising for environmental campaign, etc.
Environment-related Activities
Environmental Management
Envir
onmental Management
Exchanges through Exhibitions
The JFE Group participates in various exhibitions on environ-mental themes to encourage information exchanges with a wide range of people. At Eco-Products 2004, which attracted more than 100,000 visitors, the JFE Group presented an ex-hibition called "JFE Technologies Working in the Community" to highlight the Group's technologies and products that are helping to protect the environment.
Cooperation with NPO
The JFE Group has been working with the Liaison Center for Cre-ation of Industry & Environment since its inception. This nonprofit organization conducts research and makes recommendations on the industrial revitalization and environmental sustainability of the Kawasaki coastal area. It serves as a platform for collaboration between industry, government, universities, and citizens toward building a sustainable society that balances economic with envir-onmental interests. As active participants, we are helping to stim-ulate industry and solve environmental and energy problems.
Together with JFE LOGISTICS, JFE Steel is cooperating with the NPO VOS Nippon*1 in a Voluntary Oceanographic Moni-toring Activities*2 by installing automatic monitoring equipment on oceangoing vessels operated by JFE LOGISTICS. Data are collected each time vessels return to Japan and made avail-able to interested researchers.
Information through Internet
The JFE Group actively offers information related to environ-ment through Internet. On the JFE Group web site, its envir-onmental management policy and activities are introduced in the title of “Environmental activities”.
Eco-Products 2004
Website of JFE Holdings
http://www.jfe-holdings.co.jp/en/index.html
•Research and recommendations on industrial revitalization and environmental sustainability
•Main activities
•Cooperation in Oceanographic Survey
Presentation at the Kawasaki Coastal Renaissance Symposium
Communication with Society Relating Environment
- Partnership project for resource and energy recycling - Environment-friendly town building projects - Creation of frameworks for creating new industries - Deregulation and incentive proposals
•Dissemination of information and PR activities
- News and publicity about activities through symposiums and the Internet
*1) VOS Nippon:
Designated nonprofit organization (NPO) which conducts the following nonprofit activities to promote interest in and understanding of the marine environment by collecting, ana-lyzing, and publishing surface-layer oceanographic monitoring data from private com-mercial ships and investigating surface-layer material circulation and the reproductive mechanisms of resource life forms.
(1) Collection, organization, analysis, and publication of oceanographic surface-layer monitoring data
(2) Development of automatic continuous oceanographic monitoring devices (3) Recruitment of volunteer monitoring ships to participate in monitoring activities (4) Education, popularization, and publicity activities related to the marine environment (5) Other activities necessary for achieving the organization’s purposes
*2) Voluntary Oceanographic Monitoring Activities:
Activities involving monitoring of the temperature, salinity, etc. of oceans with monitoring devices mounted on private commercial ships and use of results in verification/elucida-tion of the actual condiverification/elucida-tion of global warming, mechanism of climate change, etc.
JFE Okukusatsu Co., Ltd. is carrying out forest conservation work in Kuni village, Agatsuma county in Gunma Prefecture. The company is planting and thinning trees on 148.2 hectares of company-owned land and neighboring national forest where iron ore was formerly strip-mined. With little topsoil and prone to mudslides, the mine is hardly a suitable location for forestry, but thanks to the company's efforts over many years, the forest is reappearing and providing a habitat for precious flora and fauna. A nature holiday village has been built in the area, and is being used by JFE Group employees as a rest and recreation facility. The open space in the village is avail-able as a summer camp site for the Boy Scouts and chil-dren's clubs.
Envir
onmental Management
Participation in "How Far Do Dragonflies
Travel?" Forum
Note: The CO2 absorbed by 148.2 hectares of forest conservation is equivalent to 96lt-CO2/yr (calculated using the conversion factor of the Forestry Agency's working group on citizen support for mitigating global warming).
JFE Engineering's Tsurumi Engineering and Manufacturing Center has been a participant in studies on dragonfly populations since the first survey in 2003. We have provided a survey site within the com-pany premises and are helping to capture dragonflies.
The aim of the "How Far Do Dragonflies Travel?" survey is to iden-tify the areas visited by dragonflies. There has been a marked resur-gence recently in the greenbelts and mini-ecosystems or "biotopes" set up by companies in the industrial zone along the Keihin coast. If dragonflies are traveling back and forth between corporate green-belts, it would help to reliably restore the biodiversity of the Keihin coastal area and would mean that greenbelts in company sites are highly significant in preserving the urban environment.
The FY2004 survey was held on August 3. More than 200 people, in-cluding companies, community groups, high school students, and spe-cialists, took part. They found 342 dragonflies of 12 different species.
Forest Conservation on a Disused
Iron-ore Strip Mine Site
Participation in Environmental Activities
with Local Companies
The JFE Group actively participates in local environmental initiatives. For example, as part of its cleanup volunteer program, the West Japan Works (Fukuyama) takes part every year in the cleanup of the Ashida River in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, held three times annually. In FY2004, a total of about 200 employees partici-pated. The company
also takes part every year in cleaning up the horseshoe crab habitat in Kasaoka, Okayama Prefec-ture, and cleans the public walkways (footpaths) around the steelworks.
Survey location in the Tsurumi Engineering and Manufacturing Center
Forest conservation on strip-mined land
