Canon has been vigilant in disclosing environmental information to a diverse range of stakeholders. Besides the publication of this report, Canon actively uses a range of media and platforms to inform stakeholders about its environmental activities, including its official environment website, various exhibitions, and other events.
To promote improved staff awareness and activities in relation to the environment, in 2003 Canon started holding an internal exhibition introducing good examples of environmental activities in Japan. The exhibition went global in 2008, when examples of overseas activities were also included. And in 2009, the exhibition developed into the environmental award system, in which top management awarded outstanding environmental activities. The exhibition and the award system have enabled management to identify outstanding examples of good environmental practice and promote their company-wide implementation while also serving as a valuable opportunity to raise the environmental awareness of employees. Started in 2013, the simultaneously held online exhibition on the Group intranet has allowed many Group employees to access the exhibition all year round, helping to hasten the horizontal implementation of good practices across the entire organization.
Moreover, the efforts of the design team and Sustainability Headquarters to together create and distribute posters to Group companies worldwide also help raise employee awareness about the environment globally.
Since 2020, we are making use of the online exhibition and carrying out all other activities online, including judging outstanding examples of good practice, continuing to carry out the Environmental Awards and Environmental Exhibition initiatives even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canon’s environmental education programs provide basic environmental training to all employees, and specialized training for employees engaged in specific types of work. The basic environmental training aims to equip employees with an awareness of the importance of environmental assurance activities and an understanding of related policies and targets, while the aim of the specialized training program is to enable employees involved in environmental assurance activities to acquire knowledge and expertise. The specialized training program consists of product environmental audit sections. Of these, product environment training enables those responsible for product environmental assessments and product surveys to acquire knowledge and expertise. These educational programs are designed to enable employees to receive needed training at a time that suits their schedule and in the format that best suits the purpose, whether e-learning, group discussion, group work, or other method. In particular, among the specialized environmental training programs, Canon is focusing attention on risk management education globally, and has been using training materials in English and Chinese since 2016. In 2021 also, we carried out training for employees involved in risk management-related work (total of approximately 8,000 participants).
Since 2017, we have also provided recycling training as part of the hands-on factory training for newly hired technicians and engineers. At Canon Ecology Industry, a recycling site, practical training in recycling is given, including instruction in how to disassemble multifunctional office equipment.
Group companies in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) region have launched an initiative known as Circular Economy Employee Engagement. The initiative takes a proactive approach, using videos and other information channels to raise employee awareness of the circular economy.
An online workshop titled “Circular Economy Hackathon” was organized as part of the initiative for employees. The 64 participants from the EMEA region broke into teams to discuss more efficient use of resources around themes such as logistics and packaging, generating a number of ideas.
A similar online workshop held in French-speaking countries attracted more than 200 participants, including employees from Canon France and Canon Switzerland, who engaged in lively discussion. Going forward, Canon aims to put into practice the ideas generated by the workshops.
“Circular Economy Hackathon” online workshop
Canon promotes environmental education and awareness activities for the benefit of people in regional communities, providing environmental outreach classes for elementary school students and environmental programs run in cooperation with regional organizations. Canon has held a total of over 220 outreach classes on toner cartridge recycling since 2011 for more than about 11,000 participants.
Japanese website only
The Canon Eco Technology Park, which opened in February 2018, is not only a cutting-edge recycling plant but also serves as a focal point of the environmental activities of the Canon Group. The facility offers tours of Canon’s automated toner and ink cartridge recycling systems as well as a showroom introducing Canon’s wide variety of environmental activities, such as the Canon Bird Branch Project, through information panels, videos, and hands-on content. Unfortunately, COVID-19 concerns in 2020 and 2021 made opening the Park to the general public difficult, but we are working to enhance operations to deal with the pandemic, such as conducting online environmental education.
Japanese website only. For inquiries on educational visits and related matters, please contact us through the website shown above.
We are using online media to enhance the environmental education curriculum offered by the Canon Eco Technology Park. Based on the environmental education we have previously offered in face-to-face settings, we are now presenting online demonstrations of the waste sorting methods practiced at the facility. This interactive communication-style program enables children to enjoy learning and thinking about the importance of resource recycling as well as the SDGs and other environmental issues. In 2021, the program was offered to ten elementary schools in the locality of the Park, giving approximately 300 children the opportunity to learn about Canon initiatives and the importance of resource recycling.
Online environmental education