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Awards and Recognition

April 23, 2018

Canon’s environmental impact reduction initiative captures the LCA Japan Forum’s Chairman Award at the 14th LCA Japan Forum Awards

Canon received the LCA*1 Japan Forum’s Chairman Award at the 14th LCA Japan Forum Awards (2017) for our cartridge collection and recycling program, an initiative aimed at reducing our environmental impact. The award was presented at an awards ceremony held on March 2, 2018.

Award ceremony

Award ceremony

Group photo at the Award ceremony

Group photo at the Award ceremony

The Life Cycle Assessment Society Japan established the LCA Japan Forum Awards in 2004, to assist companies, organizations, and researchers using the perspective of product life cycles to effect lower environmental impacts. 2017 marked the 14th presentation of the awards.

Canon received this year’s award for the LCA-based management of our cartridge collection and recycling program. The award recognized this initiative as a superlative LCA model for two reasons: the application of LCA to quantify the benefits realized from reducing environmental impacts in relation to cartridge collection and recycling that we began in 1990; and the improved CO2 emissions achieved through application of the LCA methodology when reconstructing recycling processes and when installing equipment and facilities during the construction of the Canon Eco Technology Park,*2 a hub for communicating Canon Group environmental activities that also implements advanced resource recycling.

Canon has introduced LCA methodology in product development processes, as well as in product disposal, collection, and recycling processes. This has been a means of propelling development of environmentally conscious products toward the realization of a low-carbon society and a circular economy. Specifically, using LCA methodology, we have constructed reliable mechanisms to manage and attain environmental-impact reduction targets that span both individual products and the entire Canon Group. Moreover, we are erecting systems to bring to the market a steady stream of environmentally conscious products. This is being accomplished by constructing various mechanisms, such as publishing the life cycle CO2 emissions of products as a carbon footprint.*3

Canon is dedicated to lowering environmental impacts throughout the entire Produce-Use-Recycle life cycle of products, based on our Action for Green environmental vision. This vision calls for the use technological innovation and increased management efficiencies to realize a society with enriched lifestyles and a healthy global environment.

  • *1.LCA is short for life cycle assessment. LCA is a technique of quantitatively and objectively assessing the environmental impact of a product throughout every stage of its life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials through to manufacturing, shipping, usage, and processing for recycling.
  • *2.The Canon Eco Technology Park opened on February 22, 2018 in Bando City, Ibaraki Prefecture. The facility consists of a showroom and a state-of-the-art reuse / recycling plant.
  • *3.A carbon footprint is a representation, expressed as a CO2 equivalent for simplicity, of the total greenhouse gas emissions generated throughout the life cycle of a product, from raw-material procurement through to disposal and recycling.