'Stork-Friendly Rice Farming' Wins Green Purchasing Award

Image by kunishi. Some Rights Reserved.

The Green Purchasing Network, a Japanese environmental network, announced the winners of the 12th Green Purchasing Award on October 6, 2010. The Environment Minister's Award was presented to a rice-farming initiative to create a stork-friendly environment led by the Tajima Agricultural Cooperative Association.

With the aim of bringing back storks, which had been extinct in the wild, the City of Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture, the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives, and farmers' associations have been collaborating since 2003 to establish rice farming practices that use as little pesticide as possible to restore the lost ecosystem.

As a result, five storks released to the wild in 2005 have successfully reproduced naturally, and increased their population to over 40. This activity scored highly for its clear demonstration of biodiversity conservation to consumers, and the strong collaborations among local governments, farmers and distributors.

The Economy, Trade and Industry Minister's Award was given to TOTO, a major plumbing products manufacturer, for its contributions to the global environment through its unique technology "Hydrotect," which works on a self-cleaning principle. Coated with Hydrotect, material surfaces can be cleaned with a simple rinse and do not require polluting detergents, which helps reduce their environmental impact. The grand prizes went to Canon Marketing Japan Inc., Ikeuchi Towel Co., and Fujitsu.

The Green Purchasing Award was started in 1998 to recognize outstanding efforts in promoting green purchasing. It aims to raise awareness of green purchasing, and to support creating a framework for a sustainable society with an environmentally-sound material cycle.

7th Green Purchasing Award Winners Announced (Related JFS article)
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Posted: 2011/01/13 06:00:15 AM