News

KIRISHIMA SHUZO CO., LTD. will change all of the white cardboard used as the exterior cardboard of honkaku shochu to a more environmentally friendly specification. Although brown cardboard has been used for some products up until now, all exterior cardboard will be changed to brown, and the change will be made gradually from shipments after June 2025. In addition, to prevent decrease in identification and barcode reading errors due to the change from white to brown, the design and color of some items will also be changed. Please note that this specification change will not affect strength.

Kirishima Shuzo has traditionally used white cardboard, which places importance on distinctiveness and allows greater freedom in design by using special inks. However, the base paper used in white cardboard requires an additional bleaching process in the normal cardboard Manufacturing Process, and there was also the issue of extra energy consumption by the cardboard manufacturer for cleaning and ink disposal due to the use of special inks with small lot sizes. By switching to brown cardboard, which does not use special inks, Kirishima Shuzo will be able to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 120 tons per year across the entire product lifecycle.(※1)​
In addition, the recent rise in crude oil and transportation costs has led to an increase in the unit price of packaging materials. We will continue to make efforts to reduce costs from various perspectives, such as by switching to brown cardboard.

Kirishima Shuzo aims to realize its overall concept for sustainable Shochu production, "KIRISHIMA SATSUMAIMO CYCLE - Turning sweet potatoes into energy," and has made small changes to its materials under the theme of "packaging that is kind to people and the earth," such as switching to inks that reduce the environmental impact and paper products that have international certification for forest management.
Going forward, we will continue to promote the reduction of CO2 emissions not only from our factories and offices, but also throughout the entire product lifecycle.

*1 Estimated calculation based on the "Emissions Unit Database for Calculating Organizational Greenhouse Gas Emissions Throughout the Supply Chain, Ver. 3.5"