Waste Reduction
Material Issue
Circular Economy
Policy
The Fuji Oil Group established the Basic Policy of Environmental Integrity in 2015.
Governance
The Group’s Sustainability Committee*1 is an advisory body to the Board of Directors that is chaired by the President and CEO. It deliberates on and monitors the material ESG issue*2 of Circular Economy from a multi-stakeholder perspective, and recommends the results to the Board. The ESG Division Officer oversees the progress of initiatives for Waste Reduction, a priority action within this material issue, to achieve our Environmental Vision 2030.*3
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*1 Governance, Strategy, Metrics and Targets, Risk Management > Governance
https://www.fujioilholdings.com/en/sustainability/sustainability_management/
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*2 Governance, Strategy, Metrics and Targets, Risk Management > Strategy, metrics and targets
https://www.fujioilholdings.com/en/sustainability/sustainability_management/
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*3 Environmental Management > Metrics and targets
https://www.fujioilholdings.com/en/sustainability/environmental_management/
Strategy
In the face of challenges arising from the depletion of natural resources, environmental pollution due to waste, and climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions, the transition from a conventional linear economy based on mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal to a circular economy that utilizes resources in a sustainable manner has become an urgent global issue. Our Group has incorporated the concept of upcycling into our technological development since our founding, starting with our soy protein business using defatted soybeans as a raw material. Although the Group has worked to effectively use and create value from resources in every way possible, our manufacturing processes still produce waste.* Most of the waste is organic sludge contained in wastewater from the plants and spent bleaching earth (SBE) generated after adsorbing impurities in the oil and fat refining process. Waste is also generated by food losses during the manufacturing process as well as in the disposal of products past their expiration dates. All this requires further waste reduction and more effective resource use.
The Group has made a Group-wide commitment to reduce waste under the Environmental Vision 2030. We have set a reduction target in terms of waste intensity to reduce waste disposal costs as well as to help reduce our environmental impact. We are also working to recycle waste* and create high added value from byproducts. The Group is united in efforts to achieve our target.
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Environmental Management > Strategy
https://www.fujioilholdings.com/en/sustainability/environmental_management/
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* See ESG Data Book.
Risk management
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Environmental Management > Risk management
https://www.fujioilholdings.com/en/sustainability/environmental_management/
Metrics and targetsGRI:306-3
FY2030 targets*1 | FY2023 results*1 | Progress on FY2030 targets |
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10% reduction in waste intensity*2 (All Group companies*3) | 15% reduction | 153% |
Maintain a recycling rate of at least 99.8% (All Group companies in Japan) | 99.85% | Achieved |
- *1 Base year: FY2016
- *2 Amount of waste per unit of production
- *3 Excluding waste volume generated at Industrial Food Services (Australia) and Fuji Brandenburg GmbH (Germany)
At least 90% complete At least 60% complete Less than 60% complete
FY2023 Goals | FY2023 Results | Self-assessment |
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Continuously promote waste reduction and further enhance awareness | Raised awareness within the company through environmental audits at seven Group companies |
Analysis
Waste intensity in FY2023 was 15% lower than the baseline, an improvement of 10 points from the previous fiscal year’s 5% reduction. This represents a 153% achievement rate relative to our 10% reduction target by FY2030. At Fuji Oil Co., Ltd., new dewatering equipment introduced in FY2020 has improved dewatering efficiency of scum sludge, contributing to overall waste reduction. All of the SBE generated at Fuji Oil Europe (Belgium), as well as part of the waste oil produced by the manufacturing process at Fuji Oil (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., have been converted into valuable biofuels, thereby reducing our volume of waste.
At Group companies in Japan, the resource recycling rate in FY2023 was 99.85%, an increase of 0.16 points from the previous fiscal year’s 99.69%. Going forward, we will promote recycling by sorting waste more thoroughly.
In environmental management, we aimed to make improvements through environmental audits and shared our approach to resource recycling with Group companies. We also introduced environmental data collection systems to collect and analyze waste-related data in a timely manner at each company, in order to improve our reduction rates at the company level.
Annual waste generation and waste intensity

Annual waste generation and recycling rate at Fuji Oil Group companies in Japan

Next steps
As a natural consequence of our business characteristics, the Group generates waste such as sludge and SBE, and reducing these types of waste is a challenge. In recent years, these wastes are being increasingly viewed as sources of bioenergy, and their use in clean energy creation has grown. As we explore ways to recycle and effectively use waste, we will work on the following goal for FY2024.
- Promote ongoing efforts to reduce waste and raise employee awareness of waste reduction
Specific initiatives
Waste reduction initiatives
In FY2023, we carried out the following initiatives to reduce waste.
- At Fuji Oil Co., Ltd.’s Hannan Business Operations Complex, scum sludge dewatering efficiency was improved.
- At Fuji Oil Europe (Belgium), all of the SBE was sold to methane gas producers as ISCC EU-certified* biofuel, which was used for biogas power generation.
- At Fuji Oil (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., the type of bleaching earth used in the refining process was studied and changed, resulting in fewer refinements for some products and reducing the amount of waste. Converting the waste oil generated by the manufacturing process into a valuable resource as an ISCC EU-certified* biofuel also helped reduce our waste.
- At Fuji Vegetable Oil (U.S.), the type of bleaching earth was also considered and changed, leading to a reduction in the amount of SBE.
- * The International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) is a global certification system for certifying businesses and organizations that manufacture products using sustainable raw materials such as biomass and recycled products.
Reducing food loss and waste
Referencing definitions of food loss and waste from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and each country and region, the Group has created our own definition that suits our business structure, which has been used to monitor food loss and waste since FY2023.
In FY2023, we carried out the following initiatives to reduce food loss and waste.
- At Fuji Oil Co., Ltd., measures were implemented to prevent products from falling off the production line.
- At PT. Freyabadi Indotama (Indonesia), stock management and production planning were enhanced, reducing the amount of product waste.
- At Fuji Oil (Zhaoqing) Co., Ltd. (China), sampling quantities were revised, leading to a reduction in the amount of food loss.
The Fuji Oil Group definition of food loss and waste
Items that were produced or processed for human consumption but no longer have a purpose as food (including as animal feed, etc.).