Material Flow and others

Emissions into the Atmosphere^*

SOx emissions in FY2022 remained flat, decreasing by about 1% year on year. NOx emissions increased by about 12% year on year. Due to the effect of fuel specifications, THPAL’s emissions increased by about 240 tons. Soot and dust emissions increased by about 18% year on year.

Each emissions figure was calculated based on the measurement of flue gas

Discharge into Water

The COD¹ pollutant load in FY2022 increased by about 3% year on year. The BOD² pollutant load increased by about 35% year on year due to a small rise in the analysis values at Hishikari Mine as well as an increase in discharge. Many SMM Group business sites face onto Japan’s Seto Inland Sea and are subject to controls on the total amounts of COD, nitrogen, and phosphorous emissions under the Act on Special Measures Concerning Conservation of the Environment of the Seto Inland Sea. In addition, we adhere to the discharge standards of the Water Pollution Prevention Act and have not had any violations in this area.
The volume of freshwater usage increased by about 5% year on year to about 37.7 million m3. In this calculation, diversion water,³ which is unrelated to production, is excluded from withdrawal and discharge at mines. The volume of seawater usage increased by about 10% year on year. This was attributable to an increase in production volumes at the Toyo Smelter & Refinery.

• 1.1. COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand): Measured for discharge into seas, including emissions into rivers flowing into enclosed seas
• 2.BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand): Measured for discharge into rivers, excluding emissions flowing into enclosed seas
• 3.Diversion water: Water that flows into the site as an input and flows out of the site as an output without being used for production purposes

Release Control for Chemical Substances¹

An overview of releases and transfers of chemical substances based on Japan’s Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) system in FY2022 is as follows. The number of data-submitting sites in the SMM Group was 26 (24 in FY2021). The Group had 40 (42 in FY2021) substances requiring registration.
The total released and transferred amount (releases + transfers) came to 2,522 t, an increase of about 24% year on year, mainly due to an increase in transfers. The increase in transfers was due to an increase in the volume of iron clinker² to undergo final disposal as industrial waste after being generated as a by-product at Shisaka Smelting Co., Ltd. and a reduction in the volume of manganese transferred off-site.
The amount released into the atmosphere decreased by about 7%. There were no releases of ozone-depleting substances. Discharges into water increased by about 12% year on year.

• 1.Industrial waste treatment is commissioned to Group companies and industrial waste is recycled for use as raw material. Accordingly, chemical substances transferred off-site include some substances which were effectively not discharged outside the Group, such as nickel compounds as well as cobalt and cobalt compounds
• 2.Iron clinker: The residue remaining during the processing of electric arc furnace dust after recovering zinc. The residue able to be sold is called “iron contained pellet,” and the residue to be disposed of is called “iron clinker”

Release and Transfer of PRTR Substances

Breakdown of Releases, by Destination

Breakdown of Transfers

Breakdown of Releases into the Atmosphere

Breakdown of Discharge into Water

Trends in Final Disposal Amount of Industrial and Mining Waste in Japan

The SMM Group has long been making efforts to reduce industrial waste in Japan and the amount of wastewater sludge (mining waste) that undergoes final disposal from the mine-affiliated Toyo Smelter & Refinery. The total final disposal amount in FY2022 was 74 kt, which was an increase of about 14 kt from FY2021. The main factor behind this increase was an increase in the final disposal volume of iron clinker at Shisaka Smelting Co., Ltd.

■ Final Disposal Amount¹ of Industrial and Mining Waste in Japan

• 1.Includes waste destined for landfills and incineration without heat recovery
• 2.Mining waste in the form of wastewater sludge generated by mine-affiliated Toyo Smelter & Refinery that is landfilled within the business site

Waste by Type and Treatment Method (FY2022)

■ Waste by Treatment Method (hazardous¹/non-hazardous²)

(kt)

(kt)

• Industrial waste treatment is commissioned to Group companies and industrial waste is recycled for use as raw material. Accordingly, waste figures include some waste which was effectively not discharged outside the Group, in particular (hazardous) sludge
• 1.In general, this depends upon definitions of the regulations in the other releasing countries concerned. Since Japan does not have such laws or regulations, SMM applies the following definition: “Specially controlled industrial waste and waste delivered to controlled landfill sites (excluding designated inert waste (5 categories of inert waste) that should have been delivered to landfill sites for inert industrial waste, but was disposed of at controlled landfill sites due to the distance limitation)”
• 2.Waste other than hazardous waste
• 3.Treatment methods outside of the Company were identified based on the written agreement with the disposal company and the manifest
• 4.Since FY2021 incineration has been classified into two categories: with heat recovery and without heat recovery, and the hazardous category of incineration (without heat recovery) is 0.01 kt. To unify digits, it is shown as zero

■ Breakdown of Industrial Waste (in Japan) by Type of Waste

Emissions of Waste Plastic (FY2022)

Recycling of material and recycling, etc. (heat recovery) accounted for about 65% at directly controlled business sites and about 63% for the SMM Group as a whole. We will work to further reduce emissions and promote recycling.

Education on the Environment

Environmental Education

The SMM Group has established two e-learning courses on environmental laws with the objective of raising levels of compliance. Employees, especially managers and supervisors, involved with environmental laws and regulations, and internal environmental auditors, are taking part in those courses. The e-learning course on Japan’s main environmental laws covers 10 laws that are deeply related to the businesses of the SMM Group and provides explanations of mandatory standards and notification procedures. As failing to comply with these requirements constitutes a violation of the law, employees must be certain to keep them in mind when conducting business. Given not only compliance with regulations and obligations, but also the voluntary risk management and information disclosure demanded of businesses today, the Group offers an e-learning course called Environmental Laws, Basic that serves as a stepping stone for properly conducting business. This course covers 12 laws, including the Basic Environment Act and the Basic Act on Biodiversity.

■ Laws Covered in the Environmental e-learning Courses