Product Stewardship

The Mitsui Chemicals Group’s Responsible Care Policy states “We will assess the risks to people and the environment from our products throughout their life cycle, while working to ensure the health and safety of all persons and to reduce the environmental impact of those products.” We have stipulated Mitsui Chemicals Group's Principles for Chemicals Management and have rolled out necessary operational processes as a Global Policy to unify our basic Group-wide approach.

As a member of the supply chain, the chemical industry is responsible for protecting people's health and the environment throughout the product life cycle, from product development to disposal. The Group promotes product stewardship (responsible product management) by engaging in voluntary risk management based on risk assessment, in addition to compliance with the regulatory requirements in each country.

Cooperation with business partners is indispensable to minimize the risks to people and the environment throughout our product life cycle. 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.

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.

We will implement chemicals management in a planned manner based on the following Basic Strategy for long-term targets.

The Mitsui Chemicals Group assesses the risks to humans and the environment posed by chemical substances by considering the entire product life cycle, from the planning stage of the business, through development, manufacturing, distribution, use, recycling, and final consumption to disposal. The Group provides safety information based on the assessment results for appropriate risk management at each stage of the product life cycle to ensure people's health and reduce the environmental impact. In addition, we will promote product design to improve resource recycling and management of chemical substances contained in products, and work to build a circular economy business model through the supply chain.

Policies and measures related to chemicals management are discussed by the Responsible Care Committee as part of Responsible Care.

The responsible officer for the RC & Quality Assurance Division, who is responsible for this task, reviews and establishes the group-wide chemicals management policy, and ensures that the policy is understood and put into practice in Mitsui Chemicals. The officer also provides advice, instructions, and guidance to the responsible officers for the business sector. The general manager of the RC & Quality Assurance Division combines the latest trends in chemicals management 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, the director of the Chemicals Safety Department supports the implementation of concrete actions, which include conducting product information surveys and product risk assessments, complying with chemical regulations and standards, and creating SDSs and product labels.

Based on these company policies, the general manager of the business division that owns the product and the responsible officer for the business sector responsible for that division are responsible for the chemicals management of each product. In addition, the general manager of laboratories is responsible for human- and environment-friendly product development; the general manager of the Purchasing Division is responsible for raw material procurement; and the general manager of each Works is responsible for managing the chemical products handled at Mitsui Chemicals' Works.