Grade summary

Mitsui Chemicals does not produce any SIN List chemicals or substances that are officially recognised as chemicals of high concern by the EU. However, data is only available for 13% of the company’s production, as the rest takes place outside the EU and US. The company has a method in place to screen and assess the sustainability of its products and includes intrinsic hazards of ingredients in the screening process. It does not, however, have a phase-out strategy for hazardous substances. The company follows several voluntary standards of good conduct, but has nonetheless been involved in numerous workplace safety incidents over the last ten years, including several explosions and fires.

Opportunities for improvement

• Add transparency to the hazardous product portfolio. We can only rank 13% of Mitsui’s overall production since the rest takes place outside the EU and US. For other regions there are no reliable and publicly available sources for identifying producers of hazardous chemicals. Informing ChemSec of hazardous chemical production outside the EU and US could help raise the company’s score.
• Mitsui has a product line that aims to minimise negative effects on the environment by considering energy and water use, which is great. But the world also needs less-toxic products to avoid environmental pollution and health threats. We therefore encourage Mitsui Chemicals to develop and offer alternatives that reduce the use of hazardous chemicals.
• The Japanese system of Environmental Dispute Coordination, where pollution complaints from citizens are followed up and settled within a short timeframe, leads to a minimum of accidents and spills. Nevertheless, since workplace safety incidents such as explosions and fires have been common occurrences for Mitsui Chemicals, the company should improve safety processes and train employees in order to reduce environmental incidents.

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