Environment | Value natural resources
Waste reduction and recycling in our operations

The Milestone 2030 affirms the Bridgestone Group’s intention to be even more ambitious in its ongoing global efforts to manage and reduce waste. One of the key actions informing our operations is the continuous improvement of environmental performance on waste (such as 1% improvement) year by year through the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle. To achieve this goal, the Group must accelerate the adoption of a circular economy in its business, through enhancing resource productivity, material circularity and product circularity.

The Group is committed to valuing natural resources by using resources efficiently throughout our products’ lifecycle, from raw material procurement to disposal and recycling. The key activities include reducing waste volumes and promoting zero waste to landfill and encouraging the development of a circular economy by reusing and recycling.

The Group aims to reduce the amount of waste generated at manufacturing facilities. As an example of the activities, for reducing waste oil of manufacturing equipment, the Group developed a recycling technology for waste oil at the Kurume (Japan) Plant and verified its effectiveness with a local college. The introduction of the technology has led to a reduction of over 150kl of waste oil annually.

In 2022, the Group generated a total of 285 thousand tonnes of waste where less than 10% is sent to landfill.

The Group promotes waste reduction with ownership in each region. For example, in the Europe, Russia, Middle East, India and Africa (EMIA) region, the Group worked toward the target of reducing waste generation per production volume to 65 kg/tonne by 2022, resulting in 58.4 kg/tonne, achieving the target. The Burgos Plant in Spain recycles rubber waste into rubber products such as agricultural and horticultural products. Efforts to reduce waste are underway, including a 90% reduction in spew rubber waste by 2022 compared to 2017.

As part of the enhanced drive to improve recycling rates, the Group promotes “zero waste to landfill” across the Group. In 2010, all 29 manufacturing facilities in Japan achieved zero waste to landfill status and continue to maintain it.

In the EMIA region, 11 plants in Spain, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Belgium, United Kingdom, and Turkey, as well as 11 facilities in North and South America, have also reached zero waste to landfill status. In China and Asia Pacific, ten tire plants and one retread plant have achieved this status. The Group will continue pursuing initiatives to reduce waste generation and promote beneficial use of waste as part of its efforts to contribute to a circular economy.

The Group’s waste data is verified by SOCOTEC Certification Japan, a third-party institution, to ensure the accuracy and transparency of this information.

Independent Assurance Report (2.2MB)

The Group is committed to reducing the use of single-use plastics as one of the key actions of Milestone 2030. In 2022, the Group has established “Bridgestone Single-Use Plastics Guidelines” which contains “Our Mindset” and “Our Way”, to responsibly address the global issue of single-use plastics and contribute to the reduction of our environmental footprint. “Our Mindset” consists of “Understanding and Smart use” and “Proper management”, and “Our Way” consists of “Understand”, “Act” and “Collaborate.”

The Bari Plant (Italy) launched the “6Rs of our GREEN Project” to raise awareness about single-use plastics and held an event to distribute reusable bottles on World Water Day in 2020. The Group is also promoting the reduction of single-use plastics in many other locations.