Product Stewardship
Management System
Policy and Basic Approach
The Mitsui Chemicals Group’s Responsible Care Policy states “We will assess the risks to people and the environment from our products throughout their lifecycles, while working to ensure the health and safety of all persons and to reduce the environmental impact of those products.” We also stipulate Mitsui Chemicals Group’s Principles for Chemicals Management to unify our basic group-wide approach.
As a member of the supply chain, the chemical industry is responsible for chemicals management from product development to disposal (product stewardship). The Mitsui Chemicals Group promotes voluntary chemical management in addition to compliance with the regulatory requirements of each country.
Cooperation with business partners is indispensable to minimize the risks to people and the environment throughout our products’ lifecycles. The Mitsui Chemicals Group continues to collect chemical information from suppliers, assess the risks concerning our products, and maintains mutual communications with customers on any hazards in our products and how to handle them safely.
Mitsui Chemicals Group’s Principles for Chemicals Management
Mitsui Chemicals Group will contribute to the development of a safe and sustainable society by managing chemicals in accordance with the following principles in order to ensure the health and safety of all persons and reduce environmental impact.
1.We establish Chemicals management policies and rules, and take actions in accordance with them.
2.We manage our chemicals management system appropriately.
3.We promote the safe handling of chemical products throughout the value chain through risk communication with our business partners.
4.We understand the needs of our stakeholders and provide appropriate product information.
We determine medium- to long-term goals based on the above Policy and Principles, while taking into account global chemical management trends and the Group’s business direction. We implement initiatives while creating an action plan every year.
In fiscal 2021, we set up the Chemicals Management Long-Term Goals (Our Ideal Vision for 2030) from the viewpoint of material and chemical recycling, with the aim of continuing to offer safe and sustainable products and promoting various initiatives for the creation of a circular economy.
We aim to incorporate technologies that minimize risks to people and the environment into the added value of final products and services by linking chemicals management and quality management. We will also work towards medium- to long-term reform with a focus on improving and strengthening the foundation for the management system, including developing human resources and reviewing the existing business architecture using digital transformation.
Going forward, we will implement chemicals management in a planned manner based on the following basic strategy for long-term targets.
Long-Term Goals (Our Ideal Vision for 2030)
By ensuring a high level of quality awareness among all employees and having an information infrastructure that can be used across the Group globally, we have turned the management system into one that overlooks the entire supply chain, from development to disposal, and generated and provided information. Our product and service quality are our strength that offers value to customers. Based on a high level of quality awareness among all employees and an information infrastructure that can be used by the Group globally, transform our management structure into one that can encompass the entire supply chain, from development to disposal, accomplish an active mechanism of providing information, and deliver a greater value to our customers with our high quality products and services.
Basic Strategy for Long-Term Goals
1. Transition to a management system (process assurance) that overlooks the entire supply chain.
Transforming our management structure into one that can encompass the entire supply chain, from development to disposal (process assurance)
2. Development of a management system supporting the circular economy and conversion to operations that generate and transmit information.
Building a management structure responding to the circular economy and accomplishing an active mechanism of providing information
3. Securing, development, and assignment of Quality Human Resources
4. Streamlining of operations utilizing digital technology
The Mitsui Chemicals Group’s Chemicals Management
System and Responsible Officers
Our relevant divisions closely collaborate with each other as product stewardship is important across the entire product lifecycle.
The responsible Officer in charge of the RC & Quality Assurance Division reviews and establishes the group-wide chemicals management policy, and ensures that the policy is understood and put into practice in all companies. The officer also provides advice, instructions, and guidance to the Business Sector Presidents. The General Manager of the RC & Quality Assurance Division combines the latest movements among chemical safety policies and laws from different countries with information gathered from regulatory experts to create concrete measures for compliance, and promotes the implementation of such measures across the Group. Under the initiative of the General Manager of the RC & Quality Assurance Division, Director of the Chemicals Safety Department supports for concrete action, including product information surveys, product risk assessments, compliance with chemical regulations and standards, and creation of SDSs and product labels.
General Managers of laboratories ensure that the design of new products takes safety to people and the environment fully into account.
Chemicals management in our works is undertaken by the General Managers of the works, and when procuring materials, chemicals management is undertaken by the General Manager of the Purchasing Division.
Responsibility for product chemical safety is taken by the General Manager of the business division that owns the product and the Business Sector President responsible for that division.
Product Stewardship System (Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.)
Internal Audit
The RC & Quality Assurance Division conducts chemicals management audits of each division and affiliated companies of the Mitsui Chemicals Group. The fairness of such audits is independently assessed by the Internal Control Division.
| Audit on chemicals management | The management system for chemicals management, its operational status, and the status of compliance regarding the manufacture, import, and sales of chemicals are checked. |
|---|---|
| Scope: Business divisions of Mitsui Chemicals Head Office, branch offices, laboratories, and domestic and overseas affiliated companies (selected every year) | |
| Frequency: In principle, once every three years |
Goals and Results
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| KPI | Scope | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2030 (Medium to Long-term) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goals | Results | Level Achieved | Goals | Goals | ||
| Number of legal and regulatory violations | Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. | 0 | 0 | ○ | 0 (The scope will have been expanded to the entire Group.) |
0 |
| Product risk assessment implementation rate | Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. | - Assessment implementation rate: 99% or more - formulate new assessment indicators |
- 99% or more - Set new long-term targets |
○ | ─*2 | ─*2 |
| Provision ratio of the latest safety information for all products*1 | Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. | 100% | 100% | ○ | ─*2 | ─*2 |
*1Most recent SDS submission rate.
*2As a result of reviewing the Long-Term Goals (Our Ideal State in 2030), we have decided to remove “Product risk assessment implementation rate” and “Provision ratio of the latest safety information for all products” from the management goals after fiscal 2021 because we have continued to achieve 100% for these targets. We have also decided to consider setting new management goals for fiscal 2022 and thereafter. Specifically, we plan to establish management goals concerning control standards for substances contained in products from the viewpoint of a circular economy.
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