The Oji Group has established the Wood Raw Material Procurement Guidelines for its wood raw materials procurement. The Guidelines stipulate that the Group shall: (1) expand procurement of wood from certified forests; (2) increase use of plantation trees; (3) utilize unused wood effectively; (4) verify that procurement is in compliance with laws and is environmentally friendly and socially responsible, and; (5) disclose information.
To ensure raw material traceability as specified in 4-(2) in particular, production sites of raw materials going back to sources of wood raw materials, forest management methods, and the avoidance of wood obtained through illegal logging are included among the confirmation items. In this way, the Group procures only raw materials produced from well-managed forests.
Woodchip procurement volume in FY2019 was 4.83 million BDT (bone dry tons). Of that amount, 85% was imported. The Group obtained a total of 1,105 traceability reports including 492 on the entire volume of domestic woodchips, 217 on imported woodchips covering all ships, and 396 on the entire volume of purchased pulp, verifying that the Group conducted procurement in accordance with the Wood Raw Material Procurement Guidelines.
We explain to all our new suppliers the Oji Group Partnership Procurement Policy, the Wood Raw Material Procurement Guidelines, and that there is an obligation to submit the traceability report, and conduct the risk assessment based on the requirements of the traceability report.
The Oji Group also manufactures FSC™ certified products*1 using woodchips that meet the requirements of FSC™, such as FSC™ certified wood and controlled wood*2. Controlled wood must meet five requirements*3 to be used as FSC™ certified products (such as FSC™ Mix label), which overlap with the Wood Raw Material Procurement Guidelines.
Suppliers with FSC™ CoC certification must be audited by a third party, and by utilizing these certification systems it is possible to ensure wood raw material traceability and the management systems (such as internal training) of suppliers. The results of these audits are available for confirmation on the website.
The Oji Group visits local suppliers on a timely basis every year to check logging permits and related documents and inspect the actual logging areas and forests. We thus monitor the status of their compliance with the Wood Raw Material Procurement Guidelines and validate the traceability. Through these monitoring activities, we have built good relationships with our suppliers.
In March 2018, the Oji Group completed its registration as a Class-1 and Class-2 Registered Wood-Related Business Operator, which is stipulated in the Act on Promoting the Distribution and Use of Legally Harvested Wood (commonly known as the “Green Wood Law”)*1 that came into force in May 2017. When we procure wood raw materials or biomass fuels in the future, we will verify the legality of the procurement by conducting due diligence to prove the legality*2 by working together with the Japan Paper Association.