Environment | Value natural resources
Waste reduction and recycling in operations

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 waste-related environmental performance (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 by enhancing resource productivity, material circularity and product circularity.

The Group is committed to valuing natural resources, which necessitates more efficient use of resources throughout our products’ lifecycles, from raw material procurement to disposal and recycling. Key activities include reducing waste volumes, 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 its activities, for reducing waste oil from 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 150 kl of waste oil annually.

In 2023, the Group generated a total of 286 thousand tonnes of waste. 5.3% was sent to landfill.

The Group promotes waste reduction with ownership in each region. For example, in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, the Burgos Plant (Spain) recycles rubber waste into rubber products such as agricultural and horticultural products. Efforts to reduce waste are underway throughout the Group, including the goal of 94% reduction in spew rubber waste by 2023 compared to 2017. EMEA region set a target for waste generation of 61.6 kg/tons of production, which was slightly exceeded with a final result for 2023 of 64.45 kg/tons of production.

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

In the EMEA region, this year twelve plants in Spain, Italy, Poland, Belgium, United Kingdom, and Turkey (BRiSA) also confirmed the status of zero waste to landfill. Eleven facilities in North and South America have also reached zero waste to landfill status. At the Santo Andre Plant in Brazil, the Zero Landfill Project involves finding a solution for recycling and reusing all materials. In the wire cord manufacturing process, the switch to the reuse of 4.5% of total waste generated began in 2022. By August 2023, it was 10% of waste generated. For plastic packaging, the recycling of materials has been improved with new products manufactured from waste, reducing the use of 88 tons/year (2022 baseline) of waste. In the Asia pacific region, five plants 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 LRQA Limited, a third-party institution, to ensure the accuracy and transparency of this information.

Independent Assurance Statement (241KB)
Environmental data

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 established Bridgestone Single-Use Plastics Guidelines, incorporating “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” involves “Understanding and Smart use” and “Proper management,” and “Our Way” involves “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.