Sustainable environmental management indicators -Eco Balance （Material Balance）-

• Summary
• Change in calculation methods and data reporting

Sustainable Environmental Management Evaluation Method Eco Balance (Identifying Environmental Impact and Target Setting)

Summary

The Ricoh Group introduced the concept of Eco Balance in fiscal 1998 to clarify the environmental impact caused by all its businesses and effectively reduce it. We have mapped out environmental action plans based upon environmental loads identified by stage under the concept of Eco Balance since fiscal 2002 and have applied the concept in the formulation of Ricoh Group Environmental Goals

Since we know that procurement of raw materials and parts is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions by studying the amount at output at each stage, we have been working hard to cut down the input of resources so as to reduce the corresponding emissions. Emissions due to the use of Ricoh products are equivalent to emissions from the business sites. Taking that into consideration, we are improving energy efficiency of our products.

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Eco Balance

Input

Output

Procurement of raw materials and parts

• The products subject to accounting consist of copiers/multifunctional copiers, printers, production printers, digital duplicators, facsimiles, peripheral equipment, office equipment supplies (including toners, toner cartridges, copier paper, etc.), digital cameras, electronic devices, embedded modules, thermal media, gas alarms, projectors, video conference system, and LED lighting.
• Greenhouse Gas emissions coefficients are calculated according to the original database^* developed by our company.

Business sites

• Regarding the amount of chemical substances handled, discharged and transferred, data on substances covered by the Japanese PRTR Act is collected from the Group’s sites inside and outside Japan.
• Tabulated environmental impact data obtained from individual sites is separately provided on our website.

Logistics and transportation

• Data for Japan covers transportation of cargo shipped by Ricoh or our sales campany, Ricoh Japan. For data outside Japan, international transportation as well as some transportation within the same area/country is also subject to the calculations.

Use

• Products subject to accounting include copiers/multifunctional copiers, printers, production printers, digital duplicators, facsimile machines, projectors, video conference/web-based conference systems, and LED lighting.
• For calculations, regional greenhouse gas emission coefficients (kg-CO2/kWh) for electricity that are latest available are used.
  Sources: (Japan) The Electric Power Council for a Low Carbon Society, Follow-up Results; (outside Japan) IEA “CO₂ Emissions from Fuel Combustion.”

Collection and recycling

• Collect used products, consumables and parts and use them for reuse and material recycling. (Material recycling includes collected materials from products from other companies).
• Calculated from amounts of reused materials and recycled materials (plastic/iron) based on the data managed under the resource conservation targets of products.

Change in calculation methods and data reporting
The Ricoh Group is aware of the importance of lifecycle environmental impact evaluations and has adopted its own accounting method that incorporates a lifecycle perspective since 1998. To step up its efforts, the Ricoh Group revised the accounting method in fiscal 2012 in light of the Scope 3 accounting standard of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative, which is an international accounting guideline.

• *Original database developed by our company
  To calculate Greenhouse Gas emissions arising from the Procurement of Raw Products and Parts and Use stages, we use data prepared by Mizuho Information Research Institute, Inc. based on the LCA database (fiscal 2009, version 2) published by the Life Cycle Assessment Society of Japan (JLCA). Mizuho Information & Research Institute organized the data by expanding the system's boundaries and supplementing missing data.