NOT CURRENT YEAR

Grade C-
ChemScore report card 2022

Toray Industries

About the company

Founded in 1926 and headquartered in Japan, Toray Industries manufactures chemical products. The company uses organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry and biotechnology to produce products such as polyester films, engineering plastics and resin materials. The Tokyo-based company also makes yarns, synthetic fibres, and synthetic leather used in apparel and industrial materials. Toray Industries develops IT equipment such as electronic circuits and liquid crystal colour filters as well.
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Total score
14 / 48

Grade summary

Toray drops from a sixth place in last year’s ChemScore to 22nd place this year. Four points less than in 2021 means that the company ends up with 14 points and a C-. Toray produces three hazardous substances, but only 17 percent of the company’s sold production is known to us. A bit surprising, the company seems to have removed its hazard screening process since last year. Toray markets resource-efficient products but does not advertise any safer alternatives on independent third-party platforms such as ChemSec’s Marketplace. The company has a dedicated circular approach and developed various recycling initiatives for plastic products like fibres, resins and films. However, there is no information regarding whether these recycled materials are free from hazardous chemicals. Toray gets full points in the last category, since the company has not been linked to any major controversies.

How did we come to this score?

Opportunities for improvement

  1. Increase transparency
    Not much is known about Toray’s production of hazardous chemicals. We have requested that the company disclose information about its chemicals management, but the company has not responded to that request. In order to be more transparent, Toray should disclose the full list of hazardous chemicals that it produces, including the volume of each of these chemicals as well as its percentage of the total revenue. It would also be wise to specify which chemicals are intended for end products and for intermediate use. Generally speaking, information about chemicals sold in EU and US markets is available through public records, which is not the case in other parts of the world. For that reason, Toray should make the details of its revenue generated outside of these regions public to ensure chemical transparency and allow for a comprehensive global evaluation.
  2. Market safer alternatives
    We did identify safer alternatives in Toray’s product portfolio, but these are not marketed on any independent third-party platform. Therefore, they are hard to find for downstream users looking to substitute hazardous chemicals. A good place to market these is ChemSec’s Marketplace, where buyers and suppliers can find and market safer alternatives.
  3. Communicate about sustainability assessment
    Toray fails to get a point for screening its product portfolio in relation to sustainability. The company does not state anything about hazard screenings, just about “managing substances of very high concern”. This is a bit surprising since we found hazard-screening processes at the company last year. So, a point of improvement for Toray would be to clearly communicate its environmental product assessment, including a hazard screening.

Category breakdown

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How did we come to this score?

Do you want to know more about our methodology and how we rank the companies at ChemScore?

Read more about our methodology
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Overall rank
22 / 54
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Total score
14 / 48
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Product Portfolio
2 / 18
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Development of Safer Chemicals
3 / 12
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Management & Transparency
3 / 12
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Lack of Controversies
6 / 6
Other years
Year Rank Total score
2024 25 / 51 15 / 48
2023 24 / 50 14 / 48
2022 22 / 54 14 / 48
2021 6 / 50 18 / 48
2020 25 / 35 12 / 48