From fiscal 2010, Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (hereafter Toppan Printing; head office: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; President & CEO: Shingo Kaneko) has begun assessment of environmental impact incorporating the LIME (*1) method (see diagram 1), which enables qualitative and comprehensive assessment of environmental impact due to factors such as energy and resources used in business activities, and emissions of gases such as CO2 and VOC s(*2).The LIME method was introduced with the assistance of Associate Professor Norihiro Itsubo of Tokyo City University and this is the first undertaking of its kind in the printing industry.

The LIME method is a comprehensive environmental impact assessment method that has been advocated as part of national projects in Japan. Previous assessment methods individually assessed impact on specific areas in relation to issues such as global warming but the LIME method assesses impact on various areas such as health and biodiversity and based on those assessments, integrates and comprehensively calculates environmental impact. This means that by introducing assessment that incorporates the LIME method, it is possible to put an integrated weighting on measures that have been implemented for energy saving and management of chemical substances and therefore to implement more effective measures to reduce environmental burden such as by changing the focus of measures in each business field (diagram 2).
In terms of specific assessments using the LIME method, if fiscal 2006 is taken as a benchmark with a value of 100 then it has been possible to reduce environmental impact to 88.3 in fiscal 2009. If the reasons for this in each area are analyzed, it is clear that a contribution was made by measures to reduce emissions of printing inks and solvent derived photochemical oxidants used in the manufacturing process for publications printing and containers and packaging. The introduction of solvent processing and solvent recovery equipment in particular contributed to the reduction of environmental impact and it was confirmed that between fiscal 2006 and 2009 there was a 14.5% reduction.

In the future, using fiscal 2006 as a benchmark, Toppan Printing will continuously assess total environmental impact and environmental efficiency with sales against environmental impact used as an indicator. The company will then use the results to formulate plans and reduce the environmental burden of its activities. Toppan Printing will also aim for further reduction in environmental burden by establishing a system during fiscal 2010 for assessment using both the comprehensive evaluation of business activities as a whole based on the LIME method and LCA (*3) of products in order to aid the implementation of more effective measures.
In addition, the company will expand sales of environmentally products by extending the scope of evaluation, targeting the main product groups in each of Toppan Printing’s business fields, such as packaging for food and home appliances, publications including magazines and books, and color filters that are components of LCD televisions.

*1 LIME (Life -cycle Impact assessment Method based on Endpoint modeling)
This is a method developed in the national LCA project as a Japanese environmental impact assessment method using calculation of damage based on Japan’s environmental conditions. LIME-1 was developed in a project from 1998 to 2003 and LIME-2 was developed in a project from 2003 to 2006 that aimed to revise and improve LIME-1.
This method differs from the previous LCA approach where there is direct interpretation of the results of environmental impact assessment for each area of impact such as global warming. LIME is an environmental impact assessment method based on calculation of the damage caused. This method calculates the volume of damage that occurs in areas of impact for each target of protection, such as human health or biodiversity, and uses the results to integrate environmental impact.
In order to align with the assessing company’s various purposes for using LCA, with LIME a 3 step LCIA coefficient list has been developed consisting of "Characterization", "Damage assessment" and "Integration" with the target of over 1000 substances that place a burden on the environment. In particular, as the integrated results for environmental impact are represented as a monetary value, it is anticipated that in the future they will be used not just for LCA but also for environmental efficiency, environmental accounting, and environmental economic integrated accounts.

*2 VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds)
VOC is a generic term for organic compounds that are volatile and are in a gaseous state when in the atmosphere. These include a wide variety of substances such as toluene, xylene and ethyl acetate. Regulations on VOC emissions have been enforced since 2006 under Japan’s Air Pollution Control Act because they are thought to be a cause of the occurrence of floating particle matter and photochemical oxidants that can have an impact on human health.

*3 LCA (Life Cycle Assessment)
LCA is a method for objectively and quantitatively assessing resources input and environmental burden generated for the entire life cycle of products and services from the extraction of resources to manufacture, use, recycling, disposal and logistics of a product.