In a section dedicated to the exhibition of soy sauce production processes inside the Kikkoman Soy Sauce Museum, there is a panel showing the Kikkoman group’s environment activities.

The Kikkoman group pays full attention to the prevention of the pollution of rivers by purifying and processing wastewater discharged from factories in the wastewater treatment facilities at the factories before the wastewater is released into them.

The Noda Factory of Kikkoman Food Products Company and Nagareyama Kikkoman Co., Ltd. outsource the treatment of all sludge generated during the purification process at their wastewater treatment facilities. The resulting compost is supplied to farmers.

The potted flower plants grown with this fermented compost come with illustration and information labels, stating that “the compost was made from sludge” and “even the sludge can be utilized effectively through recycling.” We distribute these potted plants to local city halls, elementary schools, chamber of commerce, and shopping districts, to promote the awareness of building a circular society.

People who received the potted plants gave us the following feedback: “Now we know that wastewater contains nutrients,” “the flower bloomed nicely without extra fertilizer,” “we can expect various benefits from keeping wastewater in a good condition,” “it gave us more opportunities to talk about water and wastewater with customers,” “we used this for my grandson's summer project,” “please continue this excellent project.”

In FY2023, with the help of the Noda Chamber of Commerce, we delivered potted Begonia plants to the members of the chamber. The Environment Department Manager and a vendor representative explained Mr. Mogi, the head of the chamber, about the sludge compost.

In July 2022, the Kikkoman Biochemifa Kamogawa Plant donated 200 Begonia plants grown with this sludge compost to Kamogawa City. Mayor Hasegawa expressed his appreciation, commenting “it is an excellent activity. I appreciate your efforts in making this city blossomed with flowers.” Begonia plants were transplanted in the flower beds at the city hall, delighting the eyes of the Kamogawa residents.

This potted plant distribution project was introduced as one of the activities aiming to promote the awareness of water quality improvement conducted by various institutions (corporations and organization) on the Tokyo Bay area and the surrounding riverside regions as part of the Tokyo Bay General Survey for Water Environment's report, which is jointly published by the Tokyo Bay Renaissance Promotion Conference's Monitoring Subcommittee, Water Quality Improvement Subcommittee in the Environmental Management Committee of the National Capital Region Nine Government Summit Council, Tokyo Bay Municipal Environmental Conservation Council, and Tokyo Bay Environment Monitoring Promotion Team of the The Public-Private Cooperation Forum for Tokyo-Bay Restoration.

Each year, employees at Kikkoman group offices and facilities regularly work with local community members and participate in a cleanup project (including trash pickup and cleaning) in the neighboring areas of the respective establishment. In May 2023, the Kikkoman's Environment Department joined the Edogawa Cleanup project organized by the Save Edogawa Committee and cleaned the Edogawa riverbed together with local residents by picking up trash and cleaning the area.

In August 2022, the Kikkoman Food Products Company's Noda Factory (Third Production Department) participated in a cleanup event with local community members in the district where the plant is located.

Partnership and cooperation with related organizations

Kikkoman is committed to promoting environmental conservation activities in a diverse spectrum as a corporate member of various organizations, including Kanto Environmental Council on Related Industries of Agriculture, Forestry and Marine Products, JFIA (Japan Food Industry Association) Sustainability Committee, Environmental Conservation Association of Chiba Prefecture, the Council for PET Bottle Recycling, Glass Bottle 3R Promotion Association, PET Bottle Recycling Division of the Japan Containers and Packaging Recycling Association, Chiba Biodiversity Center.

1) Affiliation with JCLP

The Kikkoman group has been a member of the Japan Climate Leaders' Partnership (JCLP) since May 2015. JCLP is a business coalition in Japan established in July 2009 to promote various inter-industry and industry-government-academia activities beyond the scope of individual companies, based on the recognition that the industries should develop a sound sense of urgency and initiate autonomous and preemptive action, with the goal of realizing a sustainable decarbonized society. The organization facilitates information exchange and joint projects among industry, government and academia, runs the initiatives including RE100, EP100, EV100, and Renewable Energy 100 RE Action, provides recommendations on long-term strategic policies in line with the Paris Agreement, for example.

2) Participation to the Japanese Project for the “10x20x30 Food Loss and Waste Initiative”

In 2019, Kikkoman Food Products Company decided to participate in the Japanese Project for the “10x20x30 Food Loss and Waste Initiative” organized by AEON Co., Ltd. About 800 million people in the world (one out of nine) are estimated to be undernourished, while about 1/3 of the food equivalent to 1.3 billion tons produced for human consumption is being wasted annually, even though they are still edible. This is referred to as a food loss problem. Of the 27.59 million tons of food wasted in Japan during FY2016, the food loss comprises 6.43 million tons (3.52 million tons generated from businesses including manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and restaurants, while 2.91 million tons generated from households), which is equivalent to about 1.7 times the amount of food that the UN World Food Program (WFP) donated to countries facing poverty and hunger.

The “10x20x30 Food Loss and Waste Initiative” is an initiative sponsored by the WRI (World Resources Institute), a non-profit US think tank engaged in policy research and technology development related to the global environment and development. This initiative was brought together by ten (10) of the world's biggest food retailers, each engaging with their twenty (20) suppliers to halve rates of food loss and waste by the year 2030 (30). Following the launch of this international initiative in September 2019, WRI authorized AEON Co., Ltd. to work with 21 food manufacturers (suppliers) in Japan, including Kikkoman Food Products Company, and they started activities (projects) to halve food waste.

3) Participation to the Japan Clean Ocean Material Alliance (CLOMA)

In September 2021, the Kikkoman group became a member of the Clean Ocean Material Alliance (CLOMA) to track progress in addressing the issues of marine plastic pollution, three Rs for plastic materials, development and commercialization of environment-friendly plastics, all of which contribute to the activities of the group's environment vision.

4) Participation to the Japan Climate Initiative (JCI)

Our commitment to addressing climate change led us to join the Japan Climate Initiative (JCI) in September 2021, with the aim of mitigating global warming and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Kikkoman group’s Corporate Report, which is available on our website, introduces the Kikkoman group’s environmental protection activities.