Conserving Water Resources

The surface of the earth is mostly covered in water, but in actuality only 0.01% of that water can be used for the livelihood of people.* We recognize  that  Water is a valuable resource for all people. Today, climate change has become increasingly severe in the world, while the sustainability of water resources has been concerned as a worldwide issue due to the population growth and expanding world economy.  

Reduce the water consumption throughout the product lifecycle

In order to preserve water resources, the TOTO Group works to reduce the water consumption and promote water preservation activities throughout the product lifecycle. Many of our products have a long lifecycle of around 20 years, and more than 90% of the water use occurs during the product use phase when we look at the entire product lifecycle. By actively working to reduce the water use in this stage of the lifecycle, we aim to realize both comfortable everyday lifestyles and the sustainability of water resources. We also promote water resource preservation at production sites by recycling and reusing water used in the production phase.

The TOTO Group aims at being an entity that contributes widely and continuously to society and the global environment and has been trying to work on sustainability management. To realize this goal, we are establishing a corporate governance system for executing and supervising fair and equitable management.

The TOTO Group discusses and administers sustainability issues, including activities related to the depletion of water resources, which is one of the important business issues, in the Sustainability Committee chaired by the president. The Board of Directors then supervises the activities.

Also, the TOTO Group has established the TOTO Group Risk Management Policy for risk management. Under the president, the Risk Management Committee evaluates risks, including the depletion of water related to business. Risks that may significantly affect the business and the society are mapped out and managed as major risks, which are reported to the Board of Directors. 

In addition, individual business departments and offices are also managing environmental risks that include the depletion of water under the Environmental Management System.

The TOTO Group strives to systematically reduce water consumption in manufacturing by identifying water stress by region in production sites and analyzing risks to the local community and business. 

Target companies
Scope:  TOTO Ltd. and all the 48 domestic and overseas consolidated subsidiaries

Goal
The TOTO Group has established the Global Environmental Action Plan based on the Global Environmental Policy and promotes the reduction of water consumption in manufacturing based on the 12th Global Environmental Action Plan with an activity period covering until FY 2026.

Excerpts from 【 Global Environmental Policy 】
1. The TOTO Group develops water-saving, air-cleaning, and other environmentally friendly products and services and contributes to reducing the load on the global environment.
・The TOTO Group performs an environmental assessment from the stages of research and development and the designing of products and services and carries out activities to reduce the environmental load through all stages from material purchasing to production, distribution, utilization, and disposal (water-saving, air cleaning, energy and resource conservation, controlling of chemicals, etc.).
2. The TOTO Group reduces environmental loads in every process of its business activities.
・In its efforts to reduce the environmental load, the TOTO Group takes action to employ superior technology and materials, conserve resources and energy, reduce waste and packaging materials, recycle materials, and protect the ozone layer and prevent global warming.
・The TOTO Group develops production technologies taking into account environmental conservation to reduce the environmental load during production.
3. The TOTO Group builds an environmental management system for making continuous improvements.
・In addition to complying with environmental laws and regulations, agreements and other requirements, the TOTO Group establishes its own standards to improve the control level and prevent pollution.

Global Environment Action Plan

　*1：per unit of sales
　*2：STAGE 1 period was from FY2021 to FY2023.

Changes in water use

Water withdrawals

*1：Third party sources = This includes water provided by municipal water suppliers, public or private utilities, and wastewater from any other organization.
*2：Water withdrawals – total volumes is guaranteed by third-party

Water consumption

*Water consumption（total volumes）=  Water withdrawals（total volumes）－ Water discharges（total volume）

Water recycled/reused

Water discharges

*1：Third party water = This includes municipal wastewater plants, public or private utilities, and other organizations involved in the transport, treatment, disposal or further use of wastewater.
*2：Has begun acquiring data for water discharged to Fresh surface water since FY 2018

Response to water risks

The TOTO Group evaluates water-related risks for sustainable business activities.

We conduct risk assessments for floods and water contaminations and specifically make efforts to grasp the details of water stress (the degree of tightness between water supply and demand) because we believe that it has a strong impact on business continuity. 

As a large quantity of water is used in the production processes, we strive to capture water stress of all the production site regiones to lead to effective responses. The evaluation method complies with the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative). We assess the water stress and water depletion of each production site regiones using Aqueduct, which was developed by the World Resources Institute and Water Risk Filter by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), to identify those under water stress.  

Five production site regiones, which are in Mexico, mainland China, India, and Thailand, were assessed as extremely high water stress regiones. We work on investigating further and coming up with measures for those site regiones based on the results.

In response to water Risk, we have assessed each site, selected areas that are less susceptible to flooding, and constructed production plants based on design standards that anticipate emergency situations. In operations, we have installed emergency equipment and conducted training for anticipated situations, and will continue to implement measures going forward.


Measures to Reduce Water Consumption

The global-scale climate change and expanding water demand by population growth have caused serious shortage and depletion of water resources in various regions, possibly leading to an impact on water consumption in our business activities.

The water consumption of the TOTO Group in fiscal 2024 was 1.78 million cubic meters. Focused on the importance of conservation and effective use of water resources, TOTO sets goals for continuous water consumption reduction and has implemented strategic measures to reduce water consumption through water-saving activities and the increased use of recycled water at each business sites. 

We have introduced water-saving fixtures at all our bases, strive to conserve water in our production processes, and promote the reduction of water usage.

To further increase water efficiency, our Sanitary ware manufacturing plants recycle wastewater from production at on-site wastewater treatment plants and reuse it in the production process and for Flush toilets. (Head Office, Kokura First Factory, TOTO India Industries Pvt. Ltd., TOTO (Thailand) Co. Ltd., and TOTO Mexico, SA de.CV)

In addition, our Faucet manufacturing plants have introduced a water circulation system that recycles wastewater from the plating process. (TOTO Aquatechno Kokura Plant and TOTO (Dalian) Co., Ltd.)

We will continue to expand the use of Recycling water at each Production factory .

Contribution by improvement in water-saving features and the widespread use of water-saving products

The TOTO Group is promoting efforts to reduce water consumption during product use and thus conserve water resources in the region by expanding the sales of water-saving products on a global scale. We defined the Avoided Emissions of water during product use as the amount of reduction in water use compared to the case where we have been spreading the use of the then product range in 2005. we set specific targets and manage their progress.

The amount of Avoided Emissions of water during product use will expand as more customers use products with high water-saving performance,We are aiming to achieve the target of Avoided Emissions of water during product use by improving water-saving performance and further promoting the use of water-saving products.

The Group reduced 930 million m³ in fiscal 2024 and is targeting a reduction of 1.14 billion m³ in fiscal 2026 under WILL 2030 STAGE 2.

Transition of Avoided Emissions of water during product use
* For more information on Avoided Emissions during product use, click here, and for the calculation conditions of main products, click here.

Shipment rate by quantity of water per flush(Japan,overseas)

Water-saving Initiatives for Toilets

･Advancing the water efficiency of toilets

The TOTO Group has achieved a further enhancement of the water-saving performance of toilets, which use more water than any other plumbing equipment in the home for maximized contribution to the environment by saving water.

In Japan, TOTO released a new toilet that uses 13 liters per each large flush in 1976, achieving water savings of 35% compared to earlier toilets. Since then, we have continued to increase water-saving efficiency by Tornado Cleansing, developed for the first time anywhere in the world in 2002 and other products, subsequently releasing a toilet using 4.8 liters per flush in 2009, and a super water-saving toilet using 3.8 liters per flush in 2012.

Overseas too, we similarly released a 4.8-liter toilet in the United States and Mainland China in 2006, even before its release in Japan.

Since then, we have released a 3.8-liter water-saving toilet intended for the US and Chinese markets, as well as our 3.8-liter NEOREST toilets featuring Washlet equipped with a toilet bowl cleaning function “EWATER+” and our new photocatalytic technology “ACTILIGHT” intended for markets in the Americas, Mainland China, Asia/Oceania and Europe.

Evolution of water-saving performance (in Japan)

Evolution of water-saving performance (Overseas)

･Developing and expanding the use of water-saving toilets

In countries around the world, strict regulations on the volume of water used per flush have been instituted as a measure to combat water shortage problems.
Since even before these regulations, the TOTO Group has been committed to making positive contributions to the environment through its business activities, by making our 4.8-liter toilets the global standard, and by globally promoting the use of water-saving toilets that use less than 4.8 liters per flush.

Example of regulations and standards of washing water volume of each country（As of April 2025）^*1