Environmental Management

Based on our corporate philosophy of "Bring natural life and happiness to every household," the S&B Foods Group recognizes preservation of the global environment as an important management issue, and aims to reduce the impact our business activities have on the environment and to contribute to a recycling-oriented society.

Establishing Medium to Long-term CO₂ Emission Reduction Goals
("2050 Carbon Neutral" goal)

The S&B Foods Group works to reduce the impact on the environment based on our Basic Environmental Policy.
Although we have made progress in efforts to reduce CO₂ emissions, we have set the new "2050 Carbon Neutral" goal.

Reducing CO₂ Emissions

The S&B Foods Group's CO₂ emissions for fiscal 2022 totaled approximately 29,000 t-CO₂, including Scope 1 emissions directly related to business activities and Scope 2 indirect emissions. The total CO₂ emissions for the entire supply chain including those in Scope 3 uses such as product use, disposal, and transportation, employee business travel and commuting, and other emissions amounted to approximately 380,000 t-CO₂, with Scope 3 emissions accounting for approximately 90% of the total. Total Scope 1 and 2 emissions did not decline compared to fiscal 2021, as production volumes increased in line with sales, but we are implementing energy-saving measures, such as switching to LED lighting at factories and offices, introducing lighting motion detectors, updating aging facilities, and updating air-conditioning, freezers, and refrigerators in a systematic fashion. We will continue to look into energy conservation measures, switching to fuels that produce minimal CO₂, and the use of renewable energy sources such as biomass and solar power.

Scope 3 CO₂ emissions are largely composed of CO₂ from purchased raw materials and CO₂ emitted during the use of products sold. Therefore, we will promote efforts such as the procurement of raw materials with lower environmental impact, use of microwaveable pouches, and making time-saving cooking suggestions while also stepping up communication and coordination with suppliers regarding CO₂ emission reduction.

Promoting Reduction and Recycling of Waste Products

The S&B Foods Group's total volume of waste product output^*1 decreased by approximately 1.0% (69 tons) year on year in fiscal 2022, and our recycling rate^*2 was 94.6%.
Of this, the volume of food waste was little changed from fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2022. We will continue to work on improvement.

*1Total waste product output: Waste discharged or transported out of a business operator's grounds (excluding shipped items in line with the provision of products and services).

*2Recycling rate: Reuse, recycling, and heat recovery ratio (thermal recycling) from among the total waste product output.

Reducing Water Consumption

At the S&B Foods Group, we are organizing our product lineup, reevaluating our manufacturing processes, and restructuring factories to reduce our water consumption. Compared to fiscal 2021, while we saw an increase in water consumption in fiscal 2022 due to the increased production at factories, we were able to minimize the increase.

Use of Natural Coolant

Operation of refrigeration equipment using natural coolant began at the Ueda Factory in December 2019 and at the Takada Factory of our affiliate, S&B Garlic Foods, in January 2020.
We will continue the switchover to high-efficiency refrigeration equipment that uses natural coolant instead of CFCs to cut down CO₂ emissions and help resolve environmental problems such as ozone depletion and global warming.

Gunny Sack Recycling

Some spices and herbs, which are the core ingredients for the S&B Foods Group, are transported to the factories in "gunny sacks" from growing areas around the world.
Instead of disposing of the "gunny sacks," the "jute" they are made of can be recycled by crushing it and mixing the fibers into a pulp to make paper. This paper has been used for our business cards since 2019.

• Spices and herbs transported in gunny sacks
• Crushed gunny sacks
• Business cards made from pulped "jute" fibers