Corporate Social Contribution

Plants participate in community dialogue as part of the Responsible Care Council activities and communicate information on environment-related improvements, safety, and disaster preparedness during plant tours for representatives of local government authorities and for community residents. In addition, since FY2023 we have released videos on our website introducing each worksite to facilitate dialogue with communities.

With the goal of being useful to and benefitting local communities, Zeon’s plants and Group companies conduct community cleanup campaigns around their sites and beyond.

The Grand Contest on Chemistry for High School Students is held to support the learning and research activities of high school students and technical college students across Japan, encourage them to nurture their scientific creativity while enjoying self-initiated exploration activities, and develop human resources capable of demonstrating their abilities in scientific fields in the future. Zeon Corporation has supported the objectives of the contest, hosted by the Shibaura Institute of Technology, and has served as a special co-sponsor since 2023. The contest, often referred to as the “Koshien of Chemistry” after Japan’s national high school baseball championship, concluded with the final round in October 2024. More than 90 teams, selected nationwide through document screening, gave research presentations. Eight of our researchers took part, deepening exchanges through discussions with many presenters.

Among them, the Zeon Challenge Award—selected from our unique perspective—as a special sponsor company award was presented on this occasion to the team from the Natural Science Club of Nagano Prefectural Iiyama High School for their work on the Development of a Midori Bioreactor (MBR), CO₂ absorption ball. This was because the judges for the award (our researchers) highly evaluated the aspects that the team, focusing on setting a theme that fused chemistry and biology, conceived the idea of enclosing live photosynthetic green algae, such as Euglena, in particles and then went on to achieve it, and particularly that their research reflected their enthusiasm for a self-directed approach.

Moreover, the school not only achieved the double honor of winning the Chemical Future Award, the second prize overall in the Grand Contest, but also represented Japan at the Taiwan International Science Fair 2025 (TISF) in January 2025. This fair featured research presentations by high school students from all over the world, where they honorably won first place in the biochemistry category. The seed of a unique research project undertaken by high school students out of a desire to solve global warming grew and blossomed, ultimately earning high international recognition.

Zeon Corporation has a culture that encourages challenges. Through our co-sponsorship of this contest, we will continue to support the unique challenges of high school students and contribute to the development of human resources who will lead the next generation.

Every year Zeon’s Specialty Plastics Laboratory holds a light experiment exhibition as part of the Kawasaki City Free Summer Vacation Research Week, which is well received by elementary school students and their parents.

At the Tokuyama Plant, we held the Waraku dance to interact with the local community, drawing approximately 2,000 attendees, including our employees and their families as well as community residents. During the bean-throwing and the distribution of Waraku candies, children’s faces were filled with joyful smiles. During the main event, the Waraku dance, the attendees came together in excitement with performances by the festival music ensemble and vocals by the singers, and many participants enjoyed dancing while deepening their interactions.

Toyama Dreams (men’s handball)
This men’s handball team is based in Himi City, Toyama Prefecture.

Zeon Advanced Polymix Co., Ltd. in Thailand has conducted volunteer cleanup and donation activities over the course of many years.

Zeon Chemicals (Thailand) Co., Ltd. in Thailand has participated in community volunteer activities and donation drives for elementary schools for many years.

With the cooperation of the Japanese Red Cross Society, we set up a one-day blood donation room at our head office. Many employees participated in blood donation.

We participated in a cleanup activity in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, where our head office is located. Under the theme of Clean District × Health × Engagement, we held a team-based activity competing based on the weight of collected trash and the number of steps taken during the cleanup, working to beautify the city and promote health.