Pentax 2012 Annual Report Download - page 27

The HOYA Group has been carrying out various environmental burden reduction
activities under its Environmental Philosophy and Fundamental Environmental
Policies.
It is difficult to take adequate leak prevention measures for underground tanks,
which do not allow airtightness tests often used to check hermetically-sealed
tanks. Therefore, a measure normally taken is applying an anticorrosion coating
on the inside surfaces of the tank and conducting periodic inspections to check
for cracks. However, a drawback of such a measure is that by the time any defect
is discovered, a hazardous substance may have already leaked outside, thus
requiring lots of manhours to remedy the situation.
At our plant in Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture, a project is going on and will
be completed in the fiscal year 2012. In the project, a coating sheet made of FRP
(fiber-reinforced plastic) will be installed on the interior walls of existing
underground organic waste fluid tanks. This is to make over those tanks into a
double-shell structure according to the HOYA Group Environmental Protection
Standard for Facility, which was issued in March 2010 in anticipation of the
revision of the Water Pollution Control Act in June 2012. The makeover will
include the installation of leak detecting tubes between the coating sheet and the
wall to detect leaks if any. The plan for this project was formulated in the fiscal
year 2011.
At our plant in Koka City, Shiga Prefecture, the aging PAC tanks of the chemical
tanks at the effluent treatment facility were replaced with new ones as a measure
to reduce the risks of environmental accidents due to tank failures.
Also, the tank dikes in the chemical storage area of the effluent treatment facility
within the Koka plant were subjected to the following improvements in compliance
with the HOYA Group Environmental Protection Standard for Facility:
・Separation of adjacent acidic and alkaline tanks from each other
・Division of the interiors of the tank dikes into the acidic and the alkaline
sections
・Repair of tank dikes showing advanced corrosion
Until recently, there has been no well-defined method for disposal of waste
containing low-concentration PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl). Thus such waste
was stored within the factory after taking some leak prevention measure for it.
With the arrival of a combustion disposal method, it is now possible to entrust the
disposal to a licensed contractor. In the fiscal year 2011, therefore, our plant at
Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture consigned the disposal of four units of high-
voltage transformers as waste containing low-concentration PCB to a licensed
contractor. In this commission of disposal, the contractor was asked to faithfully
observe the Japanese government's Guidelines for Collection and Transportation
of Low-concentration PCB Contaminated Electrical and Other Waste and other
applicable laws and regulations. Also, it was confirmed that the collection and
transportation of the units to the disposal site should be performed properly and
Case examples of activities for reducing environmental burdens
1. Soil pollution control measures, underground water pollution control measures, hazardous
substance leak control measures
●Use of double-shell structure for underground tanks
●Renewal of aging tanks at the effluent treatment facility and repair of tank dikes in chemical storage area
2.Proper Disposal of Industrial Waste
●Disposal of low-concentration PCB waste