On April 17, 2007 MPS Floral Marketing (MPS Japan) and Japan Floral Marketing Association (JFMA) jointly set up a network for holding workshops and encouraging other information exchanges about environment-friendly horticulture in order to promote the MPS certification system. MPS stands for Milieu Programma Sierteelt, an environmental horticulture certification program that originated in Holland. MPS Japan certifies flowers and ornamental plants grown using environment-friendly cultivation methods. The new network is called the MPS Participant Network Conference.

MPS Japan was funded and founded by JFMA in August 2006, and has been promoting environmentally proactive cultivation inviting on flower producers to participate in a green certification system called MPS-ABC, which started functioning in January 2007. In this system, participating growers record and report data on pesticide, fertilizer and energy consumption and waste management. When data covering a period of 12 weeks (3 growing terms of 4 weeks each) is reported, the grower receives MPS Participant Logo Mark labels with an evaluation rank (A, B, C) indicating the level of their environmental effort, and the labels can be put on the products.

The MPS program was first set up in the Netherlands in 1995 to certify growers' efforts in reducing environmental impacts while enhancing the freshness and quality of their flowers and plants. It let consumers know that growers were fulfilling their social responsibility within a system of integrated effort by the industry in close cooperation with distributors. The certification labels also publicize the industry's active role in the environmental movement. Ranking their environmental effort also helps growers improve their management overall. Outside Japan, about 4,500 organizations from all over the world have been certified and as of the end of 2006, 31 countries had adopted the system.

http://www.my-mps.com/

Posted: 2007/08/11 05:13:19 PM
Japanese version

TAG Eco-product/Business , Non-manufacturing industry , System/Law