 Green procurement
Since 2001, the Brother Group has been implementing green procurement activities that prioritize parts and materials that show environmental considerations for all products. Green procurement standards have been set and efforts are being promoted together with suppliers to manage the chemical substances restricted by the RoHS Directive *1 and the 24 chemical groups of JIG *2.
*1 RoHS Directive: An EU directive restricting the use of hazardous substances contained in electric and electronic equipment; entered into force in July 2006.
*2 JIG: Joint Industry Guide for Material Composition Declaration for Electronic Products jointly issued by Japan, the USA and EU, with the objective of making it more efficient for businesses in the electric and electronic equipment industries to check for chemical substances in products and parts, identifying specified chemical substances and establishing standards for parts suppliers to respond to related inquiries; enforced in May 2005.
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Preparations for REACH Regulation
Explanations being given to suppliers |
In FY2008 (April 1, 2008-March 1, 2009), the Brother Group completed pre-registration of the chemicals cited in the REACH Regulation *3. Also, it will be necessary to report when quantities of substances of very high concern, over a specified concentration, are contained in products. Such substances e.g. carcinogens, can severely impact human health and the environment. For this reason, the Brother Group Green Procurement System has been updated so that the composition data of these substances can be surveyed and tabulated. Meanwhile, the company has explained the situation to suppliers and started testing their parts and materials.
*3 REACH Regulation: An EU regulation providing for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of all Chemical substances (one ton/year or more) contained in manufactured/imported products; entered into force in June 2007; registration deadlines set on a phase-by-phase basis depending on the substance and its volume band.
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Environmental information system
Brother's environmental information system is an IT system built in order to manage and reduce the use of chemical substances. In April 2005, the Brother Green Procurement System that links to this environmental information system was opened on the Internet. Suppliers around the globe are required to enter the weight, material composition and contained quantities of chemicals of each part for all parts and materials delivered to the Brother Group. This data is integrated with data measured at individual manufacturing facilities as a mechanism for ensuring elimination of specified chemicals from products and thoroughly preventing their infiltration into the supply chain.
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Chemical substance management
The Brother Group requires all suppliers to test for specified chemical substances in the materials and sub-materials that compose products, and then audits this work. This effectively prevents the named substances from infiltrating the supply chain. Furthermore, to ensure that this mechanism is swift and accurate, a system was established to measure and analyze substances within all possibilities in-house. These measurements and analyses are done at all Brother manufacturing facilities around the world by fluorescent X-ray spectroscopy. As a particular note, this is being done 24 hours-a-day, 6 days-a-week at manufacturing facilities in Asia via work shifts.
 Chemical Substance Management
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Reducing chemical substances
Brother Industries, Ltd. manages the quantity of chemicals handled, transferred, released and consumed not just for those targeted by the PRTR Law but all chemical substances used at business sites, in order to reduce their use.
Reducing Chemical Substances
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Environmental considerations for hazardous substances across the entire life-stage of products
The Brother Group has established a basic policy in all phases of business operations, from development and design to collection and recycling of products, and has been working on eco-conscious/environmental activities. With regards to hazardous chemical substances, the following is applied to development, design and procurement.
 Development and design: Hazardous chemical substances must not be contained in Brother products.- Procurement and products: Hazardous chemical substances must not be contained in the parts and materials that make up Brother products.
At Each Life-Stage
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Products having acquired environmental labels
Environmental labels indicate that a given product shows consideration for the environment. They are helpful to consumers when wanting to buy products of low environmental load. Environmental labels can be one of the three types (Type I, II and III) standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) or a compliance label that indicates that the product complies with specific performance criteria.
The Brother Group is working to acquire various environmental labels in an effort to meet the following targets set in the 2010 midterm environmental action plan.
Environmental Labels
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Green procurement
