Basic ApproachBack to Top

The TOPPAN Group positions the conservation of biodiversity as a critical challenge for management. As a guide to drive conservation initiatives, a Basic Policy on Biodiversity was established in April 2010. A year later, in September 2011, a set of Paper Procurement Guidelines for the Sustainable Use of Forest Resources was formulated to avoid or minimize the impacts on biodiversity during raw material procurement operations. We have identified our impacts and dependencies on biodiversity and ecosystem services and assessed associated risks. In areas where intensified biodiversity efforts are needed, TOPPAN takes assertive approaches to conserving local environments based on preventative and adaptive strategies formulated from a long-term perspective. Our conservation activities focus on cooperation with community members and various other stakeholders with links to biodiversity. We believe that biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of biodiverse resources help us enhance environmental security and decarbonize society.

TOPPAN is intensifying supply chain management, environmental initiatives, and cooperation with local communities throughout Group operations. These activities will enable us to achieve our commitment to restoring natural ecosystems over the 20-year period from 2030 to 2050. We will take urgent steps to halt and reverse biodiversity loss in order to put nature on a recovery track by 2030 and beyond, as called for under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

Required ActionsBack to Top

The actions required for biodiversity conservation throughout the Group are shown below.

Required Actions
1.
Sustainable raw material procurement
1)
Sustainable paper procurement
2)
Thorough paper recycling
3)
Green purchasing
2.
Consideration of land-use
1)
Use of site green space
2)
Conservation and restoration of site neighborhoods
3.
Pro-biodiversity products and services

ActivitiesBack to Top

Sustainable Raw Material Procurement

1) Sustainable paper procurement

The TOPPAN Group Sustainable Procurement Guidelines (version 3) set out requirements and recommendations for forest conservation. The guidelines state the following: “When using resources derived from forests, oceans, or living organisms, etc., Business Partners should avoid the use of resources that have been illegally extracted, cultivated, or traded. Business Partners are also expected to take resource conservation into consideration when using raw materials, including from the perspective of controlling deforestation and forest degradation.” We survey the legality of lumber as a raw material for paper production, as a means of promoting the sustainable use of forest resources.

2) Thorough paper recycling

We believe that maximum paper resource circulation discourages the new use of forest resources. Paper materials that have not been processed into products are thoroughly recycled.

Cartocans (our paper-based beverage containers) used within Group sites are collected and processed into toilet paper for use in our offices and plants.

3) Green purchasing

We have been engaging in green purchasing for paper products based on our in-house standards for stationery and office goods. Various measures are applied to avoid the purchase of virgin wood-pulp products, such as the preferential purchasing of paper products composed of higher ratios of recycled pulp.

ECO-GREEN Purchasing
No. of Cases
Fiscal 2023 2,091
Note:
ECO-GREEN is a toilet paper composed of about 50% used Cartocan (paper-based beverage container) paper.
Green Purchasing of Stationery and Office Goods
Level of Fulfillment
Fiscal 2023 73.5%

Consideration of Land-use

1) Use of site green space

Our land-use practices support biodiversity in green spaces at Group sites across Japan. To bolster biodiversity efforts, TOPPAN has received third-party certification from the Association for Business Innovation in harmony with Nature and Community (ABINC)* for two sites (as of March 31, 2024) and applied land-use self-assessments using the ABINC’s Land Use Score Card. The Fukaya Plant (an ABINC-certified site in Saitama Prefecture) has installed nest boxes for wild birds and eco stacks, habitats for living creatures built up from fallen leaves and branches collected in green spaces on the site premises. In a biodiversity conservation event held in January 2024, site members and their families came to observe beetle larvae grown in the eco stacks.

Group personnel also take steps to preserve native species and rare plants within their premises. They conserve green spaces for habitats for assorted creatures through green initiatives, such as nest boxes for birds and greenbelts to grow host plants for butterfly larvae.

*
A certification program for evaluating and accrediting biodiversity-friendly initiatives to be planned and managed in line with the principles stated in the Guidelines for Sustainable Business Site Management® using the Land Use Score Card. The guidelines and score card were established by the Japan Business Initiative for Biodiversity (JBIB).
2) Conservation and restoration of site neighborhoods

TOPPAN employees and families take part in biodiversity conservation activities organized by environmental NPOs and local governments. Many of the activities focus on the cleanup of rivers and natural surroundings in site neighborhoods. With the abatement of COVID-19 in fiscal 2023, Group sites across Japan resumed in-person gatherings where kids could experience and learn about nature and biodiversity.

Since fiscal 2022 we have joined a project to plant flowers along the Arakawa River in the Kanto Plain, with support from the Arakawa-Joryu River Office of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan. In a May 2024 activity conducted at the Sakado Plant in Saitama Prefecture, the seedlings of agrimony and motherwort preserved and grown onsite were replanted in their original habitat, the Mitsumata-numa Biotope adjoining the Arakawa basin extending from Kawajima town to Ageo and Kawagoe cities. The Sakado Plant also donated the seeds obtained from the activity to elementary schools collaborating in the project to conserve more of the plants native to Saitama. The Asaka Site, also located in Saitama, engages in similar activities to conserve native plants and fish. Indigenous species of kinbuna crucian carp and Japanese eight-barbel loach swim around in its biotope. The site members drained the biotope in July 2023 to conduct a habitat survey and nurture a better environment for protected species.

In November 2023, TOPPAN Holdings Inc. operated an online biodiversity observation program piloted by the Biome creature-collection app from Biome Inc. The program was developed as part of the “Life is Connected! Myaku-Myaku Creature Quest,” a corporate joint web-event held under a pavilion project produced by the ‘mecha designer’ Shoji Kawamori for Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.

Among the various pollutants stressing the global environment, marine plastics are known to have a tremendous impact on marine ecosystems. Communities around the world have been active in campaigns to reduce the release of plastics into the environment. In a cleanup activity conducted at Kuzika beach on Tsushima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture in May 2024, TOPPAN employees learned about plastic pollution and helped reduce it in the marine environment.

Replanting seedlings in the Mitsumata-numa Biotope in Saitama

Briefing by TOPPAN personnel on the seeds donated to local elementary schools

Native plant seeds sorted and packed at welfare facilities

A kinbuna carp and eight-barbel loach found in the Asaka Site, Saitama

Life is Connected! Myaku-Myaku Creature Quest

Cleaning up Kuzika beach in Nagasaki

TOPIC

Biodiversity Conservation

Participating in Tokyo Greenship Action for Satoyama Lands

TOPPAN Edge Inc. has been conserving neighborhoods as a participant in the Tokyo Greenship Action project since 2009. Project organizers such as NPOs and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Environment give the public opportunities to experience the landscapes of Tokyo’s satoyama, verdant areas traditionally nurtured by farmers and foresters. TOPPAN Edge engages in conservation activities in the Hachioji Tobuki-kita Green Tracks, a network of diverse ecosystems inhabiting wooded areas and small valleys primarily composed of Japanese oak and chestnut groves. Located about 20-minutes by foot from the Takiyama Plant of Toppan Communication Products Co., Ltd.* in Hachioji, the green tracks are protected under a Tokyo Metropolitan Government program. In fiscal 2023, eleven employees from TOPPAN Edge and TCP Takiyama Plant supported tree growth in the area by thinning the trees and clearing the underbrush under the guidance of NPO members.

*
Former Toppan Forms Central Products Co., Ltd.

Clearing underbrush in a satoyama field in Tokyo

Pro-biodiversity Products and Services

The TOPPAN Group combines various printing technologies to develop products and services geared to achieve nature-positive outcomes across the value chain.

1) Nurturing sound forests—Forest-thinning paper product

The paper-based Cartocan beverage container exemplifies our ongoing product development efforts to make preferential use of paper made partially from lumber harvested from forest-thinning operations performed to encourage a sounder forest cycle.

2) Metaverse-based content for kids

Metaverse Zoo is a virtual intellectual training package produced in collaboration with TBS Holdings, Inc. to broaden children’s interest in the natural environment. At “AKASAKA Asobi! Manabi! (learn & play) Festa” hosted by TBS Holdings in March 2024, visitors enjoyed Metapa Satoyama World: Honeybee Edition, a metaverse environment built by TOPPAN to spread knowledge on the ecology of honeybees.

Metapa Satoyama World: Honeybee Edition

Associated DataBack to Top

Forest Management Certification

FSC® and PEFC Certification (as of June 7, 2024)
FSC: Forest Stewardship Council
PEFC: Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes
Division, Company, or Site Country FSC PEFC
Information & Communication Division (TOPPAN Inc.) Japan
Environmental Design Subdivision (Living & Industry Division, TOPPAN Inc.) Japan
Toppan Cosmo, Inc. Japan
Satte Plant (Toppan Decor Products Inc.) Japan
Chubu Site (Environmental Design Subdivision, Living & Industry Division, TOPPAN Inc.) Japan
Nishinihon Site (Environmental Design Subdivision, Living & Industry Division, TOPPAN Inc.) Japan
Takamatsu Office (Environmental Design Subdivision, Living & Industry Division, TOPPAN Inc.) Japan
TOPPAN Edge Inc. Japan
Takiyama Plant (Toppan Communication Products Co., Ltd.) Japan
Fussa Plant [including CP Production Department] (Toppan Communication Products Co., Ltd.) Japan
Takino Plant (Toppan Communication Products Co., Ltd.) Japan
Joto Center (Toppan Communication Products Co., Ltd.) Japan
Asaka Securities Plant (Toppan Communication Products Co., Ltd.) Japan
Nagoya Center (Toppan Communication Products Co., Ltd.) Japan
Fukuroi Plant (Toppan Communication Products Co., Ltd.) Japan
Osaka Sakurai Plant (Toppan Communication Products Co., Ltd.) Japan
Hiroshima Plant (Toppan Communication Products Co., Ltd.) Japan
Tamana Plant (Toppan Communication Products Co., Ltd.) Japan
Toppan Infomedia Co., Ltd. Japan
Living & Industry Division (TOPPAN Inc.) Japan
Kansai Living & Industry Subdivision (Nishinihon Division, TOPPAN Inc.) Japan
Chubu Division (TOPPAN Inc.) Japan
Higashinihon Subdivision (Higashinihon Division, TOPPAN Inc.) Japan
Hokkaido Subdivision (Higashinihon Division, TOPPAN Inc.) Japan
Kyushu Subdivision (Nishinihon Division, TOPPAN Inc.) Japan
Chugoku & Shikoku Subdivision (Nishinihon Division, TOPPAN Inc.) Japan
Tosho Printing Co., Ltd. Japan
Livretech Co., Ltd. Japan
Pennsylvania Plant (Toppan Interamerica Inc.) USA
Toppan Interamerica Inc. USA
INTERPRINT, Inc. USA
INTERPRINT do Brasil Indústria de Papéis Decorativos Ltda. Brazil
Toppan Europe GmbH Germany
INTERPRINT GmbH Germany
INTERPRINT Polska Sp. z o.o. Poland
INTERPRINT (China) Decorative Materials Co., Ltd. PRC
IP Decor Spain, S.A.U. Spain
Barcelona Office (Toppan Europe GmbH) Spain
London Office (Toppan Europe GmbH) UK
Toppan Leefung Printing (Dongguan) Co., Ltd. PRC
TOPPAN Leefung Printing Limited PRC
TOPPAN Leefung Printing (Beijing) Co., Ltd. PRC
TOPPAN Leefung Label Printing (Dongguan) Co., Ltd. PRC
TOPPAN Leefung Label Printing Limited Hong Kong
TOPPAN Leefung Packaging (Dongguan) Co., Ltd. PRC
TOPPAN Excel (Dongguan) Printing Company Limited PRC
TOPPAN Excel Printing Limited Hong Kong
TOPPAN Leefung Paper Products Limited Hong Kong
TOPPAN Edge (Hong Kong) Limited PRC
Toppan Nexus Limited Hong Kong
TOPPAN Merrill LLC USA
INTERPRINT Decor (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. Malaysia
Toppan Security Printing Pte. Ltd. Singapore
Siam Toppan Packaging Co., Ltd. Thailand
InterFlex Group UK

Back to Top