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Nikkei Ecology

August 2004 Issue

Cover Story 1

You can no longer rely on others
Eradicate the “industry waste risk” from your business!

01 Absolute compliance with laws and regulations
Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd. challenges itself to a completely legitimate waste management

02 More companies develop original ideas for waste management
Corporations take charge in the promotion of corrective measures

03 Indispensable foundations for a recycle-based society
Administrations finally commit themselves to foster superior waste management companies

Cover Story 2

The fifth “Eco Brand Survey”
Consumer-selected environment-friendly businesses that can also achieve remarkable business results

Report

Recycling
Used PET bottles are finally selling at reasonable prices; what are the criteria for the recycling businesses to survive?

Technology Frontline

Products
[Refrigerators/freezers and air conditioners for convenience stores] Integrated operation of refrigerators/freezers and air conditioners can halve the electricity consumption

Elements
[Hydrogen production by nuclear power] Hydrogen can be produced by thermochemically decomposing water at 900°C

Trend
[High-efficiency transformers] The new technology reduces energy loss by 40% or more

Technological people
Kohei Urano, professor of Yokohama National University, covers a wide field of research to protect the global environment

“Honor students” in recycling
[Aluminum cans] Recycling business stands against the escalating prices of used cans by an integrated manufacturing system


Technology news clips

Learn about environmental laws
Easy-to-understand Environmental Law
[Revised Waste Management and Public Cleaning Law Part 2] Three regulations are enacted to solve the new problems for waste management facilities

Environmental Laws Q & A
How should Japanese corporations prepare for the implementation of emission rights trading in EU?

This Month’s Environmental Law
The Diet approves all of the five bills proposed by the Ministry of Environment

Shoichi Kondo’s Report from the Diet
My heart goes with the supplementary resolutions of the Invasive Alien Species Act

Trend and News

Waste Management and Public Cleaning Law (Waste Disposal Law)
“Sorted waste wooden pieces are not industrial waste,” a local court gives a decision; the Ministry of Environment does not agree

Nuclear fuel cycle
“Cost is not the only factor” to decide the direction of the reprocessing plant in Rokkasho Village in Aomori Prefecture

Measures against global warming
More stringent measures should come with the review of the fundamental principles; the Ministry of Environment is firmly determined to introduce the climate change tax

New energy
Subsidy-dependent policy for new energy should be shifted to a policy that promotes independence of industry to create a 3-trillion-yen market

Fuel efficiency
What are the real values of the new small-size engines developed by Toyota and Daihatsu?

Eco car
GM and US Postal Service reach agreement to use fuel cell vehicles for mail delivery service

New energy
Solar cell manufacturers are preparing for production increase; are they expecting to switch their focus from the domestic demand to the overseas market?

CSR Frontline
SOMPO Japan Insurance Inc. promotes CSR from two viewpoints; customer satisfaction (CS) and employee satisfaction (ES)

Social responsibility is also asked for the media and entertainment industry

ECO Interview
Michio Okamura, president of Okamura Laboratory, Inc.: “I knew that the electricity could be stored”

ECO Column
Kankan Gakugaku (Active Argument over Environmental Issues)
Ryoji Noyori, president of RIKEN, Japan

Takuro Morinaga’s ECO Lifestyle
Why don’t we spend the hot summer of Japan with an “energy-saving” dress code?

Fieldwork Japan
The light source of the traffic signals is being switched from light bulbs to LEDs


Report
Vice-Rector Itaru Yasui’s “Eco Michelin”
Plasma TV

Achieve the Top Sales with Eco Products!
Sharp/Ecology Life Campaign

Inside-Out

[One of the nation’s largest-scale scandals of illegal damping of industrial waste] The heaps of waste still remain at Zensho’s site even after 49 times of administrative guidance by the Gifu city government

WorldWatch Institute
The UN project in Kenya protects the nature and improves living standards of local people

ECO Seminar

New trend of ISO
[Self declaration Part 5] A variety of mechanisms, such as auditing by citizens in Minamata City, are helping the self declaration system to expand

New Environmental Study
[Risk management for CO₂ emission regulations] Financial impact must be calculated based on prediction of future domestic regulations

Quick Guide to Environmental Key Words
Zero emission

Learn from Environmental Reports of Companies Overseas
Baxter International Inc. (U.S.A.)

World Trend

From EU: How to interpret European Regulations
REACH revolutionizes regulations on chemical substances

From U.K.
Non-stringent standards of the national allocation plan (NAP) comforts the industry

From U.S.A.
Prius increases its popularity with the gas price increasing rapidly

From Germany
The “Link Directive” by EU may ruin effectiveness of the total emission reduction

From China
Expectation for the ratification of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) brings light to chemical analysis businesses

Nikkei BP EcoManagement Forum

[ECO graph] Detailed report of the fifth “Eco Brand Survey”