Zero Emissions - Ricoh Group

"More with Less"

http://www.ricoh.co.jp/ecology/e-/index.html

In Volume 2 of the JFS Newsletter (October 2002), we featured Asahi Breweries' zero emission initiatives as a first of this series. Our feature company this month is the Ricoh Group, a global leader in digital office equipment.

Founded in 1936, the Ricoh Group started in Japan and has now become a leading supplier of office and information equipment, including copiers and printers, and its operations include development, manufacturing, sales, servicing, and recycling of optical equipment and other devices. The number of employees is now 74,000 in five key regions including Japan, the Americas, Europe, China, and the Asia-Pacific region.

It is probably safe to say that Ricoh is one of few companies that are both advocating and actually accomplishing both environmental conservation and profitability. The group's annual net sales and net income of FY2001 amounted to about 1.6 trillion yen and 60 billion yen, respectively, marking 10 consecutive fiscal terms of increases. While doing this, the company has successfully reduced its CO2 emissions by
13.8% compared with 1990 levels and achieved a recycling ratio of 100 percent at all production sites around the world.

These achievements have been widely recognized, as the company became the first Asian corporation to receive the WEC Gold Metal for International Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development in January 2003. This award is presented annually to recognize and honor a corporation that demonstrates preeminent leadership in sustainability and contributes to worldwide environmental quality.

At the foundation of Ricoh's environmental management lies "Comet Circle," its original concept modeling a society that recirculates resources, producing the maximum output with the minimum resources.

With multiple loops going through the user, it graphically represents the interactive relationship between the flow of materials and recycling during the process of manufacturing. The closer the loop is to the center, the more efficient is the use of resources and the less the environmental impact.

Of course, this story is not over yet. Ricoh recognizes that the above-mentioned 100 percent recycling of waste at all production sites is only a starting point for a higher level of recycling. As the share of outer, so called "open loops" of the Comet Circle, involving chemical recycling, thermal energy recovery, and final disposal companies is still high out of total material cycle, Ricoh still needs to reduce the environmental impacts associated with this part of the Circle. Ricoh is now working closely with suppliers and recycling partners to reduce each partner's environmental impact, as well as to decrease the original material input and consequently, its output (in FY2002, the output is 27,600 tons for Japan and 17,200 tons for all other countries).

One of the most remarkable successes of Ricoh's environmental management comes from extending the "culture" of zero emissions from Japan to allover the world. As a key to achieve zero emissions at locations ofdifferent cultures, Ricoh points out the importance of raising staff awareness and respecting local originality.

For example, with its vast land area and multi-ethnic society, the U.S. has a very different notion and culture of waste compared with Japan. In the State of California, air pollution could be seen as more urgent an issue, which at first made Ricoh staff wonder why they needed to pay attention to the goal of sending "zero waste to the landfill." However, all the staff involved in the zero emissions campaign were given an opportunity to visit "zero waste" production sites and time to think through what it meant to them.

Once they realized that harmful substances left in the landfill would one way or the other end up harming their children and grand children, they were quick to come up with very creative measures such as a kite competition using recycled resources, and a waste separation contest involving all the staff. All these measures contributed to higher awareness and more efficient operations. On the waste separation cart you can see photos of the staffs' children, which the staff put there to show their commitment to zero emissions for the children's future.

In Mexico, the staff are applying their own creativity to promote zero emissions. One thing that stands out an inscription on the wall that continually inspires the staff. It says, "God loves the green earth, singing birds, green jade, and the scent of flowers. But more than anything, God loves the people that take good care of them."