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Nikkei Ecology

February 2004 Issue

Special Feature

Path to the establishment of a “recycling-based nation”

Cover Story: The three breakthroughs emerging in sight

Part 1. Turn recycling requirement into a business opportunity and seize your own chance
The three breakthroughs that can lead to the recovery of Japan’s economy and make its corporations winners

Part 2. Overcome the barriers of regulations; use them as a competitive power, instead
Promote wide area recycling systems by taking advantage of the exceptions in the Waste Management and Public Cleaning Law

Part 3. Employ the rising environmental awareness in Asian countries into your business
Dowa Mining Co., Ltd. launches businesses in China, seizes the opportunities in the Asian markets with technologies from Japan

Part 4. Learn from collaborative efforts among corporations, NPOs and local governments
Partnership among different types of groups can provide sufficient knowledge to realize a recycling system in the local area

Supplement: The current status and problems of the Recycling Law

Report

Review of the Law for Promotion of Sorted Collection and Recycling of Containers and Packaging in 2005 to result in the financial burden of recycling being shifted from the local governments to the business enterprises

Takeei Co., Ltd., a leading construction waste managing company, takes a challenge, develops businesses by involving general contractors

Actions by Local Governments/ Ask the top management for the next step
Koichi Sueyoshi, mayor of Kitakyushu City, aims at building a recycling-based city using its Eco Town as its strategic core

Technology Frontline / Products
Gasification melting furnaces can succeed in recycling of shredder dust into metals and roadbed materials

Technology Frontline / Elements
The new material by Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. enables solar cell reuse and recycling

Technology Frontline / Trend
Japan Recycling Light Technology & System leads the “light-to-light” technology. Is it to become a standard operation?

Technology Frontline / Academy
Yoshihito Shirai, professor of Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, creates biodegradable plastics from kitchen waste

This Month’s Company
Recycle One, Inc. links the waste generating corporations with waste management and recycling companies

Report

Professor Itaru Yasui’s “Eco Michelin”
Highly insulated houses: No doubt about their energy saving effects, but balancing the insulation effect with air ventilation level is a challenge

e!Communication between Corporation and Housewives
A round table discussion with housewives reveals that differences in the perception are obvious between corporations and housewives: Corporations must provide more information

Nikkei Ecology Business Seminar
Challenges towards the establishment of an “environmental nation” - Corporate management can change Japan

Special lecture by Yasuyuki Eda, parliamentary secretary for Economy Trade and Industry / Keynote lecture by Kunio Nakamura, president of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Symposium by Masao Kobayashi, chairman of Nippon Unipac Holding; Tamotsu Nomakuchi, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Masayuki Hanmyo, chairman of the board of JFE Steel Corporation; Hiroshi Ogawa, Director-General for Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; and Yuko Sakita (coordinator), Journalist and environmental counselor

Environmental dialogue with top management
Masayasu Kitagawa’s “Frontline of Environmental Management” Part 8
Yoshihiro Yasui, president of Brother Industries, Ltd.: “We used the sense of crises as a springboard to the rapid corporate structural reform. The mixture of different types of personnel is essential for a vital organization”

Trend and News

Environmental policy in 2004
Global warming prevention measures are to move to a new stage and the “top-runner standards” are to be set for the second period

Preventing global warming
Ominous clouds begin to gather over construction plans of nuclear power plants - nuclear energy is no longer a “pillar of global warming prevention measures”

New energy
While the “environmental value of new energies” is priced for 9 yen/kWh, the leading power companies still show passive attitude in the first bidding

Hazardous substance regulations
RoHS and WEEE may stagnate at the final stage, cause confusions for Intel Corporation and other companies to act

Natural energy
Bioethanol-gasoline is sold at over 600 stations throughout Canada to run the vehicles

Inside-out

Rethinking the issue of tidal flatland reclamation at Isahaya Bay Part 2.
Anglers of Isahaya switch their attitudes from opposing to promoting the reclamation
Dependency on public investments has been an obstacle on the path to “peace”; local citizens’ participation in discussions will be needed

The issue of Isahaya Bay is a manifestation of the adverse effect of the dependency of local economy on public investments; involvement of local citizens in discussions is the first essential step to put an end to the “Fifty Years’ War”

Reports from Think Tanks Overseas

Environmental Finance
While their “dawn” is arriving, JI and CDM are questioned for their real values in the emissions right market in Europe

Rocky Mountain Institute
Laying down building codes is the key in the growing movement to solve urban problems

SustainAbility Limited
What is the future view of CSR? A framework for a long-term reform is wanted

Wuppertal Institute
Wuppertal develops a methodology to measure sustainability, which allows companies and sectors to design indicators for the relevant business field

From WorldWatch
The flow of the Mekong drifts between economic development and ecosystem conservation

Environmental Seminar

Easy-to-understand Environmental Law -The Revised Waste Management and Public Cleaning Law / Minister-authorized standards are finalized for the special cases for recycling promotion

How to read European Regulations - The limitation of WEEE / The gap between the ideal and the reality of the European Directives, and divergence of the two becomes a key issue

Understanding the Real Value of ISO - Eco Stage 3 aims at system improvement, while Stage 4 focuses on the level of performance

Zero Emission Grade Report - DENSO Manufacturing Hungary Ltd. (DMHU) / DENSO’s subsidiary in Hungary achieves zero emissions, saves 16 million yen by recycling used oil and solvent

Global Warming Prevention Measures in Our Company - Asahi Kasei Corporation / Its reduction of the greenhouse gas emission by 50% of the 1990 level accounts for 0.5% of the nation’s total emission amount

New Environmental Study - Backcasting / The method to balance environmental efforts with business operation is learned from IKEA

Environmental Laws Q & A - Basel Convention / Will export of all hazardous wastes be banned after the regulation is revised?

This Month’s Environmental Law - Law Concerning Special Measures against PCB Waste / The Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) recommends the Ministry of the Environment to improve the PCB control system

Learn from This Environmental Report - Noritake Co., Ltd. / Environmental impacts are expressed with unique measuring units for easier understanding

Column

Kankan Gakugaku (Active Argument over Environmental Issues) - Mie Hama, actress and agricultural journalist: “The agricultural issue is the ultimate issue in the environmental problems”

Eisuke Ishikawa’s “The Eco Industries in the Edo Period” - The generous-hearted “Edoites” foster the food service industry

Takashi Morieda’s Dining Room on Earth - New Year’s Days in different countries bring about a variety of traditional scenes from the long history of customs closely related to nature

Fieldwork Japan - Teshima and Naoshima Islands in Kagawa Prefecture: Treatment of the industrial waste in Teshima has finally started, but the action is “only a starting point” for the local residents

Pioneer - Shigehira Inukai runs a three-billion-yen business by recycling expanded polystyrene containers generated from fish markets