Concept
Aiming to reduce the impact on the
global environment and enhance end user comfort levels, the Ricoh
Group is tackling important issues, specifically reduction of environmentally-sensitive
substances contained in its products and reduction of noise, ozone,
dust, and styrene emissions at the end-user stage. Environmentally-sensitive
substances contained in products do not affect the environment when
the products are in use, but they will affect the environment when
the products come to the end of their lifecycle and are improperly
disposed of. An eco-balance assessment
shows that reducing the use of these substances will ultimately lessen
the environmental impact a product has during its lifecycle. It will
also reduce recycling costs. Accordingly, the Ricoh Group has given
top priorities to these challenges.
Targets for Fiscal 2004
 |
Completely eliminate the use of environmentally-sensitive
substances (i,e., lead, hexavalent chromium, polyvinyl chloride,
and cadmium) in products. |
|
Reduce noise levels by at least 2 dB (weighted
average value for the number of units sold out of the number
of units marketed in fiscal 2000). |
|
Observe Ricoh standards that cover environmentally-sensitive
substances emitted by products, including styrene, ozone, and
dust. |
Review of Fiscal 2003
Steady progress is being made in ensuring
that our products contain absolutely none of the four environmentally-sensitive
substances (lead, hexavalent chromium, polyvinyl chloride, cadmium)
as a result of strengthening the management system for the 14 groups
of substances prohibited by Ricoh* (see
graph(1)). Noise levels while in standby mode have been reduced
significantly, while noise levels during operation have been reduced
slightly (see graph(2)). In the
meantime, all our products put on the market during fiscal 2003 satisfy
the standards for ozone, dust, and styrene emissions (see
table(3)).
Future Activities
Efforts will be made globally to discontinue
all use of the remaining four environmentally-sensitive substance
groups out of the fourteen substance groups prohibited by Ricoh by
supporting the establishment of chemical substance management systems
at our suppliers and by joint development of alternatives under green
partnerships. In addition, uses of another two substance groups, TBTO
and TBT/TPT, will be prohibited by Ricoh in fiscal 2004 to strengthen
its efforts. At the same time, efforts will be made to comply with
Germany's Blue Angel Mark that was revised in January 2004. |
