Actions against environmental risks

Fundamental approach to environmental risks

The KITZ Group believes that its corporate responsibility is to make the utmost efforts to conserve the environment in order to bequeath the Earth, which is irreplaceable and the common property of humanity, to future generations. By strengthening the management system, KITZ reduces environmental risks and prevents environmental pollution.

Asbestos (buildings)

In 2005, KITZ sampled and analyzed the sprayed asbestos in the buildings of each business site. In addition, the areas where asbestos was applied were identified from the floor plan, and measures were implemented to remove or enclose those areas. Upon removing the sprayed asbestos, a notification was submitted to the authorities, and the process was completed in accordance with the law and the guidance. Since then, asbestos regulations have changed from a content rate of 1% to 0.1% and the type of asbestos from three to six substances. Accordingly, KITZ re-analyzed and re-evaluated the environmental risks in fiscal year 2009. In response to asset retirement obligations, KITZ conducted inspections on each of the Group companies and completed the removal of sprayed asbestos from the Nagasaka plant security guard office, the Ina plant casting compressor room, and plant No. 2, as well as the training center.

PCBs

The disposal of removed PCB waste (high and low concentrations) was completed by December 2017. However, some offices use equipment that might contain PCBs. KITZ has been analyzing the status, and equipment upgrades are planned for completion by 2025.

Soil contamination

The KITZ Nagasaka plant implemented countermeasures starting in 1997 when the contamination of soil and groundwater was discovered. In 2007, about 10 years after the start of remediation and purification, KITZ received a request from the supervisory authority to implement radical countermeasures in conjunction with a plant restructuring plan. KITZ conducted a survey to identify the range (area and depth) of contamination and implemented the measures suitable for the concentration and range of contamination identified in order to promote purification. The status of purification is monitored regularly and reported to the supervisory authority every year. KITZ promotes the implementation of measures under the supervision of the authority. The KITZ Chino plant purified the soil and groundwater contamination by VOCs, which had been detected in parts of the site in 2004, when the plant was taken over, and KITZ has been monitoring the quality of groundwater ever since. Based on the monitoring results, the authority determined that purification was complete.

Wastewater treatment facility

The stainless-steel valve production line at the Nagasaka plant, which started operation in June 2008, was restructured together with the installation of a wastewater treatment facility dedicated to the pickling process. The wastewater treatment facility began full-scale operation in July 2008. The equipment within the facility removes nitric acid, fluorine, chromium, and other substances discharged from the process, and chemically treats heavy metals using agents. For nitric acid, biological treatment involves the use of microorganisms to consume and gasify the nitrogen in the nitric acid.

• KITZ noted the following in designing this facility:
• (1) Reinforce the wastewater management system and reduce the number of processes and costs by centralizing the management of pickling wastewater throughout the plant
• (2) Effectively use the iron in the wastewater and recycle it as coagulants
• (3) Utilize methanol discarded by KITZ Micro Filter Corporation, one of the group companies, as a biological treatment agent (microorganism feed)
• (4) Install a sensor to establish a system to constantly monitor fluorine, nitrogen, and pH levels

The Nagasaka plant will continue to review wastewater other than the pickling and strengthen the factory wastewater management system.