ENVIRONMENTAL EVALUATION PROGRAM, ECO ACTION 21 (EA21) - WINNING OF "EXCELLENT WORK PRIZE" FOR THE 5TH ENVIRONMENT REPORT CONTEST

by Joji Miyashita; business administration department of Akasaka Tec Inc.



1. Eco Action 21

Akasaka Tec Inc. won "Excellent Work Prize "for our environmental behavior plan conferred by the chairman of the National Association Promotion of Environmental Conservation for the 5th environment report contest in Eco Action 21 (EA21). We are really honored to receive such a prestigiousaward and would like to thank all of you who made it possible for us to win this prize. We ourselves have realized the important fact of winning thisaward.

2. The decision to participate in a program for Eco Action 21

In June 2002, Yokohama Kanazawa Industry Communication Council kindly provided us with an outline of the 4th Eco Action 21 and asked us to join the seminar for the program. When the council asked us to join theseminar, we had already participated in "ISO-9001-2000 study meeting program".
We had already decided to obtain ISO-9001 and had already selected thestaff members for the team to start preparations for the activities to obtain ISO-9001 in the following year. We realized that it would be very tough to obtain ISO by participating in the above-mentioned seminar and each of the members decided to do their very best although they were apprehensive if they would really be able to obtain the ISO.
Honestly speaking, we actually hesitated in participating in the above-mentioned EA 21 program to obtain ISO and decided to work on our own program to obtain ISO. Since the contents of the EA21 program are similar to that of our program, we decided to work on both programs. In other words, unless we successfully work on both programs, we won't be able to work on either of them.

3. Educational seminar

The educational seminar for EA21 was held for three days last July. Five companies participated in the seminar and the speakers from Kanagawa Environment Counselor Council gave us lectures in seminars. Thecurriculum in the seminar included (1) the outline of environmental activities evaluation programs, (2) the duties of environmental activities, (3) confirmation and revision of environmental activities plans and (4) final confirmation. The speakers gave us kind and thoughtful words.
Since we made our environmental activities plan for the program using Microsoft Excel, the plan was very easy to work on and understand. So, could make the environmental activities plan with Microsoft Excel successfully. Even after the three-day seminars were over, the speakers kindly answered our questions via E-mail and we could finalize our environmental activity plans through their kind support.
The things I learnt in the seminar is that EA21 program, which is a simple version of ISO is (1) really simple, (2) as good as ISO regarding environmental preservation and (3) cost less than ISO. There is a big difference between EA21 and ISO though, ISO is to maintain theimprovements in environment after a certain level is achieved, and EA21 is to create actions to achieve the goal in environmental preservation that we set. After we achieve the first goal, we move on to the next goal. I also think that EA 21 is easier to work with.

4. The plan for environmental activities in our company

Our company is located in the Yokohama-Kanazawa High-Tech Center. Our business includes system integration and information communication service. Since all of us work in the office most of the time using personal computers, we are unaware of the increase in air pollution and damage being done to the natural environment. (It is not too much to say that we are not aware of air pollution and natural environmental destruction due to our work environment in our office)
Furthermore, the company which operates the Yokohama-Kanazawa High-Tech Center takes care of all our water and electricity. In fact, we were not aware of saving water and electricity for the purpose of environment protection.
Since we decided to participate in EA21 program, weユve devised a plan to work on for the program. The majority of the staff members of our company are in their 20's and 30's and considered very young. We created a theme for our plan called "We conduct our own educational program to have more awareness in environmental preservation as full-fledged adults in our society." The purpose of our educational program is to have all our staff members be more aware of environmental preservation in daily life.
We have established our EA21 promotion team and have formed a concrete action program. Our staff members in charge of the operation of our company cars have been monitoring the consumption of gasoline by installing a vehicle surveillance system, which is one of our products in the cars and have been keeping records of car operation, breaking, speed and consumption of gasoline, etc.
The staff members who are in charge of saving electricity periodically E-mail members in our company and have been doing other related activities. They really look serious conducting these activities.
I think that the reason we could win the award is because we are evaluated very highly not only for our environmental activity program, but also the text about our activity program which was attached to our plan. We look forward to the results of our environmental activities one year from now.

5. Conclusion

We really would like to thank all of you who support us for winning this award.