Management of Water Utilization

Utilization of Water Resources

Ascertaining water risks for corporate business activities and taking suitable countermeasures are growing in significance. The JVCKENWOOD Group has set a target to reduce water use as follows.

■Reduction in Water Consumption

  • ・Target: 11% reduction by FY2030 from the FY2019 level (total, global)

 

We reduced water use by 37% from the FY2019 level in FY2023.
In FY2023, water consumption decreased due to the termination of operations of the overseas production plant JVCKENWOOD Technologies Singapore Pte. Ltd and Shanghai Kenwood Electronics Co., Ltd and the rebuilding of the Yokohama Head Office building. Meanwhile, the Group has been steadily implementing measures to reduce water use on a constant basis. As a specific example, we are working to recycle water by recycling wastewater (for details, see Initiatives Pertaining to Wastewater). We also recognize the importance of complying with laws and regulations pertaining to water quality, and no violations were committed in FY2023.


Water usage (FY2019-2023)

Coverage: refer to “Change in Water usage by business location”


Water usage (by type) (FY2019-2023)

Unit: t

Type FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 FY2023
Waterworks 163,858 137,286 147,896 118,082 108,504
Industrial water 79,986 56,030 33,250 49,419 42,614
Fresh groundwater 12,455 11,134 11,841 9,899 9,703
Fresh surface water (rainwater) 0 0 0 0 0
Total usage

256,299

204,450 192,987 177,400 160,821

Coverage: refer to “Change in water usage by business location”


Change in water usage by business location (FY2019-2023)

Unit: t

Japan/overseas Company name and location FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 FY2023
Japan Head Office & Yokohama Business Center 19,841 15,365 16,579 7,559 8,506
Hachioji Business Center 23,364 16,534 14,304 15,251 15,804
Hakusan Business Center 8,766 5,443 5,726 5,404 6,023
Kurihama Business Center 13,774 12,361 13,001 11,820 15,019
Yokosuka Business Center 4,253 2,947 3,067 2,990 2,875
JVCKENWOOD Yamagata 4,147 3,341 3,147 3,327 3,594
JVCKENWOOD Nagano 4,554 3,958 3,720 6,419 5,641
JVCKENWOOD Nagaoka 11,554 11,791 10,460 10,139 10,167
JVCKENWOOD Creative Media 9,235 9,311 9,318 9,404 9,515
Victor Entertainment 3,931 3,027 3,115 2,852 2,653
JVCKENWOOD Video Tech 851 567 597 495 498
JVCKENWOOD Design 0 0 0 0 0
Malaysia JVCKENWOOD Electronics Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. 38,303 33,965 27,300 31,860 29,529
Thailand JVCKENWOOD Electronics (Thailand) Co., Ltd. 11,577 8,266 7,267 - -
JVCKENWOOD Optical Electronics (Thailand) Co., Ltd. 24,278 16,175 15,416 19,630 17,636
Indonesia PT JVCKENWOOD Electronics Indonesia 55,708 39,855 33,250 29,789 24,978
People’s Republic of China Shanghai Kenwood Electronics Co., Ltd. 18,504 19,697 21,977 18,535 8,383
Singapore JVCKENWOOD Technologies Singapore Pte. Ltd. 3,659 1,846 1,743 1,726 -
Total usage 256,299 204,450 192,987 177,400 160,821

Initiatives Pertaining to Wastewater

To address the rising water risk in recent years and to use water resources in a sustainable manner, the JVCKENWOOD Group is endeavoring to ensure as far as possible that the water used and the wastewater generated in its business activities are reusable water resources. For example, at our Head Office and Yokohama Business Center, we recycle about 5,000 m3 of water annually by purifying gray water from kitchens and cafeterias as well as wastewater from toilets to recycle it. This helps reduce the amount of drinking water and industrial water that we use (see diagram below). In FY2023, we spent approximately 5.12 million yen of costs for the maintenance of septic tanks and other water-related expenses.

With regard to wastewater quality, the actual amount of 28 hazardous substances specified under the Water Pollution Prevention Act contained in our wastewater was 0.58 tons in FY2023, achieving the target to beat our FY2022 result of 0.62 tons. The water management plan is introduced by six business locations including the Head Office and Yokohama Business Center.


Water recycle system


Wastewater volume (by type) (FY2019-2023)

Unit:t

  FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 FY2023

Sewers

250,267

182,481

139,585

134,313 109,799

Rivers

- - - - -

Other

-

3,562

31,059

29,789 29,529
Total 250,267 186,044 170,644 164,102 139,328

Coverage 1: refer to “Change in water usage by business location”

Coverage 2: Basically, the calculation is based on actual measured wastewater volume. For some sites where wastewater is circulated, the amount of wastewater after circulation is aggregated.


Operations in Water-stressed Regions

The Group identified regions where water shortages and flooding are a concern (water-stressed regions) by using the Aqueduct tool provided by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and has confirmed that two of its business locations operate in these regions. The total amount of water used in the two business locations was 26,019 tons in FY2023, which represented 16.2% of the total water use by the Group. We aim to actively work toward reducing water use in the regions, considering that the significance of doing so is particularly high in achieving our global target for water use reduction. In addition to the Group’s measures to reduce water use, we undertake activities to support stakeholders faced with water risks in the regions. In FY2020, we provided support such as donation of care bags to 22 employees of JVCKENWOOD Optical Electronics (Thailand) Co., Ltd. who suffered flood damage.


Participation in Water-related Initiatives