3rd Eco Products Awards Go to Innovative Products and Services

The Eco-Products Promotion Council (Japan) announced the winners of the 3rd Eco Products Awards on November 24, 2006 and presented the awards at "Eco-Products 2006," a major exhibition held at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center, or "Tokyo Big Sight" on December 14, 2006. Since first launched in 2004 to promote eco-consciousness in Japan, the awards have been given once a year to outstanding products and services that contributed to reducing human impact on the environment. For awards in 2006, submissions were received for a total of 94 products and 33 services.

In the Eco-Products category, four Ministers' Awards were presented The award from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries went to Toppan Printing Co. for a can-shaped paper container made using wood produced from the management of planted forests in Japan, named "Cartocan." The award from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry was presented to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. for its "Tilted-drum washer/dryer using Heat-Pump Drying system (NA-VR1100)." It takes approximately 145 minutes to complete a laundry load, only half the time needed by Matsushita's other machines, and saves two thirds of electricity cost. The award from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation was given to Takenaka Corp. for its high-quality recycled aggregate, called "Cyclite." It can be used repeatedly as aggregate for concrete, in contrast to the typical use of waste concrete for roadbed. The award from the Ministry of the Environment went to Sanyo Electric Co. for its reusable battery, named "eneloop," which can be reused about 1,000 times, at a cost of only 0.2 yen/charge. (about U.S. 0.16 cents)

Four Minister's Awards were also presented in the Eco-Services category. From the MAFF the award went to Keio Corp's "Food Recycle Package System," which uses the company's transportation network to coordinate ideas and proposals relating to recycles in an integrated way. From the METI the award was given to Starway Co. for its recycling distribution service using reusable and recyclable packaging materials, called "Environmental Delivery Pack" and a returnable package box, named "E-STAR PACK FX model." From MLIT the award went to Nippon Express Co.'s moving service, called "Ekorojikonpo," which aims to reduce costs and produce zero waste by using unique reusable package materials. From MOE the award was presented to Mitsubishi Estate Co. for its "Otemachi Cafe," which was built using eco-friendly architectural materials and fabrics.


http://www.toppan.co.jp/english/index.html
http://panasonic.net/exhibition/eco2006/
http://www.takenaka.co.jp/takenaka_e/index.html
http://www.sanyo.co.jp/koho/hypertext4-eng/0610/1031-1e.html
http://www.keio.co.jp/english/index.html
http://www.starway.co.jp/
http://o-cafe.com/furniture/

Posted: 2007/03/03 10:48:28 AM
Japanese version