Caring for the earth
Promoting a recycling society
At the Calbee Group, we are committed to harnessing nature's gifts and effectively using agricultural products and water resources. We reduce waste as much as possible and recycle what is recyclable. In order to realize resource circulation loops and reduce environmental impacts, we are implementing the following measures as part of our greater effort to protect resources and create a recycling-oriented society.
Main initiatives
Reducing food loss
In FY2021, we reduced food loss by 11.8%, whereas in FY2022, we regrettably increased food loss due to raw ingredients of unacceptable quality. We had many raw ingredients of unacceptable quality in the first half of the year in particular, and we took immediate action to address the problem, which proved to be effective in the second half of the year.
The Calbee Group will share information on quality issues with suppliers, and work with them to improve the quality of raw ingredients. We will fully check every stage of the production process in our factories, ensure operations are carried out to Calbee's specifications, and introduce equipment to improve product quality, in order to reduce food loss caused by unacceptable product quality.
“3Rs”*1 promotion
The Calbee seeks to realize a resource recycling-based society. We promote loss reduction, effective use, and volume reduction to eliminate waste. To reduce the amount of waste, we are making efforts to reduce the moisture content and volume of waste byproducts, such as large amounts of sludge from wastewater treatment and animal and plant resides from potatoes (raw loss)*2.
In FY2022, the amount of waste generated increased by 1.9% (compared with the fiscal year ended March 2019) due to raw ingredients of unacceptable quality and increased production volume.
- *1 Reduce, reuse and recycle.
- *2 Collectively refers to potato peels and scraps that cannot be used in products.
Changes in total waste volume over time
Aluminum vapor film recycling started
We recycle, and reuse as plastics, packaging films disposed of at Calbee's Kiyohara Factory, with the patented aluminum vapor film recycling technology owned by Towa Chemical Co., Ltd. This is the first time Calbee has ever used this technology. We will verify the effects of this effort and explore the possibility of expanding the scope of application.
＜Recycling process＞
- Aluminum vapor film generated in the Calbee Group's factories is collected.
- The film is converted into recyclable materials (pelletized) at Towa Chemical's factory.
- The recycled materials (pellets) are processed into containers and pallets.