Environmental Protection & Occupational Safety
Pollution Control
USI considers "Resource & Waste Minimization and Reuse" as corporate policy. The principles of "Impact Mitigation & Continuous Improvement" and "Effective Reduction & Circular Reuse" have been carried out thoroughly in all the facilities and treated as annual performance indicator. Therefore, through regular data record and tracking, the relevant units such as process unit, facility affairs unit, and EHS unit strictly monitor the usage and outputs, and strengthen the effective control of water & waste.
USI does not have issues on contaminating catchment areas as our facilities are not built around it. But Mainland China's regulation has become increasingly rigorous and ASEH paid close attention, the storage and distribution of water resources have also become an important topic for us. USI has been making efforts in conserving water resources and continues to manage the resources in our production and daily life. Apart from regularly tracking the water usage of USI's six major manufacturing facilities, USI also commissions a third-party to check the quality of effluents on a regularly basis to prevent water pollution from happening.
To make the use out of every drop of water, USI is planning to recycle as much water as possible via improvement of equipment and technology. In 2022, USI recycled 307.54 ML of water, with a recycling rate of 28.8%. In addition, the process water consumption is 395.14 ML, with a recycling rate of 78.1%.
USI has developed a waste disposal program specifying that hazardous wastes must be handled by qualified suppliers with valid licenses for disposal and that non-hazardous wastes must be given to licensed recycling operators for recycling or shipped to the licensed incinerators for incineration. Therefore, through regular data record and tracking, the relevant units such as process unit, facility affairs unit, and EHS unit strictly monitor the usage and outputs, and strengthen the effective control of waste.
According to the statistics, the total amount of waste generated in 2022 was 10,842 metric tonnes, and the recovery amount was 9,329.396 metric tonnes, with a recovery rate of 86%. Although it is slightly higher than the previous year, it still meets the annual target (80%); The non-hazardous waste recovery rate of 92.5% also meets the annual target (90%), the details are shown as follows. The hazardous waste generation intensity is 0.125 (kg/KUSD) in 2021 and 0.114 (kg/KUSD) in 2022, a decrease of 8.8% from the previous year.
In recent years, air pollution is getting worse in Mainland China and Taiwan. It seriously affected the quality of life to residents that become an urgent issue. This is the reason that local authority has made relevant amendments to local regulation. As our production facilities are within the affected areas, we also pay great attention to air pollutant control within our facilities. According to statistics, VOCs emissions in 2022 were 60.064 metric tonnes, an increase of 8.7% from the previous year. After analysis, the reason was that the increase in the use of organic solvents in response to the expansion of the company's operations, so the VOCs emissions have increased slightly from the previous year.
For the emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx), and particulate matter, in 2019, to reduce the emissions of nitrogen oxides in boiler exhaust gas, Jinqiao Facility carried out boiler exhaust gas transformation and equipped with a low-nitrogen burner. In the future, USI will let other facilities disclose relevant information, and actively promote the expansion of related improvement measures to other facilities. The air pollutant emissions data for 2022 is shown in the table below:
Pollutant | Zhangjiang | Jinqiao | Huizhou | Kunshan | Nantou-TT | Nantou-NK1 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) | 3.340 | 1.692 | 0.567 | 0.057 | 19.601 | 34.807 |
Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) | 0.562 | 0.364 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Sulfur Oxides (SOx) | N.D. | N.D. | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Particulate Matter (PM) | 1.284 | 0.450 | N/A | 0.241 | N/A | N/A |
Note:N/A: No applicable local regulation and no available self-testing data; N.D.: Non-Detectable, the level is too low to be detected by the instrument