Socio-Environmental
Present in the second largest Brazilian biome, the Cerrado (savanna) is composed of a vast diversity of animal and plant species. It is considered the largest savanna in the world and the water tank of Brazil, due to the many springs there are there and to the river beds of eight of the twelve basins in the country. Okuyama’s vision is that environmental responsibility belongs to everyone, so it has included a series of measures in the work front to mitigate the impacts to the environment and to preserve and protect the springs and forest remnants.
The environment is not only the raw material of our production process, but an ally in production, so, always concerned with these issues, we seek sustainability, from planting to processing, using resources rationally, minimizing the generation of waste to make sure that the needs of future generations are not jeopardized, allowing them to enjoy the same benefits as the present ones.
This concern is reflected in the more than one thousand hectares of native vegetation preserved and protected within the group’s various properties. These are Legal Reserve and Permanent Preservation areas, in addition to other areas of the remaining native vegetation, which allow the formation of ecological corridors for animal species, thus preserving the region’s biological diversity.
A few of our work methodologies applied to contribute to the mitigation of the environmental impacts caused by the productive process are the use of adequate technologies for more precise management, through management software, monitoring the plant’s demand for water throughout its cycle and, consequently, optimizing the use of natural resources. Another important factor is the reuse and monitoring of wastewater coming from processing. We also undertake selective collection at all properties, seeking an environmentally proper destination.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Social Responsibility is the form of management that is defined by the company’s ethical, transparent relationship with all publics with which it has a relationship and by establishing compatible corporate goals with society’s sustainable development, preserving environmental and cultural resources for future generations, respecting diversity and promoting the reduction of social inequalities (Ethos Institute, 2006). In this regard, we seek the development of the region we are inserted in, either in the valuation of local commerce or in the generation of jobs and, also, in supporting projects that promote health, culture, sports and education, actively participating in actions developed by nonprofit institutions of the region, especially those related to childcare and social well-being. Parallelly, we created a program aimed at extending our culture “from the gate to the outside,” i.e., with what we could contribute according to our business philosophy. Based on this idea, we conduct an annual project integrated with state and municipal schools, with the aim of working on environmental education, with children and adolescents, using didactics to raise awareness and preserve the environment through lectures, gymkhanas, theater, and recycling actions, involving the entire school community. In sum, this project also aims to create conditions for development “from the gate to the inside,” with timely actions carried out with our employees that involve the same scope of work previously mentioned, as well as to raise awareness and qualify them regarding the environmentally correct practices of our activities, and to extend them with actions that can start at home.
