Press Event 【March 23, 2017】 Ricoh’s initiatives to create energy
post date : 2017.03.13
Press release: March 1, 2017
※Application closed.
※This Press Event is only for foreign journalists in Japan.
※This event is planned and sponsored by Ricoh Company, Ltd. with the FPCJ providing support for the application process.
Ricoh Company, Ltd. has set mid-term and long-term targets for 2020 and 2050 to reduce its impact on the environment and has been promoting a variety of environmental conservation activities to solve global environmental issues.
Ricoh aims to develop its “environmental management,” which it has pursued since the 1990s to simultaneously achieve both environmental conservation and profits, while helping to build a sustainable society.
Ricoh opened the RICOH Eco Business Development Center in a former multifunction printer plant in Gotemba, Shizuoka in April 2016. It was established as Ricoh’s 80th anniversary project to create and expand new businesses based on environmental sustainability in a broader range of fields, not limited to the domains it has focused on in the past.
The RICOH Eco Business Development Center has three major functions: a center for verification of eco-business technologies, a reuse & recycling center, and a source to distribute information regarding eco-business activities. Gotemba City, where the RICOH Eco Business Development Center is located, is implementing an “Eco Garden City” initiative, and the center is collaborating with the city.
The center will further advance the environmental management concept to create and expand eco-business in pursuit of eco-management that evolves with our customers.
To create new businesses and accelerate its environmental conservation activities, the RICOH Eco Business Development Center has been pursuing various initiatives, through open innovation based on collaboration between industry, academia and government. Of those activities, we would like to demonstrate the following activities to create energy:
1. Forest biomass utilization: local production for local consumption model, from acquiring timber by thinning to the practical use of energy
Since there is cost associated with transporting the timber that results from thinning forests, it is often left in the woods unused. Collaborating with Gotemba City, the Center will purchase 1% of the cedar and cypress timber produced annually from thinning nearby forests, convert it into wood chips, and use it in a biomass ventilation system providing some of the temperature control energy for the Center as a whole.
2. Micro hydroelectric power generation: creating energy from local water flows including building plumbing and irrigation canals
Among renewable energy types, hydro energy is expected to be used for a base power source because of its stability in generating power. There is significant potential. For example, there is 400,000 km (10 times around the Earth) of irrigation canals in Japan and more than 100,000 water pipes in buildings and factories. Including rivers, the potential capacity for power generation is equivalent to 20 nuclear reactors.
3. Converting waste plastic to oil: generation/extraction of valuable materials, such as fuel oil and metals, from used toner cartridges
Customers return about 3,000 tons of used toner cartridges annually to the Center’s reuse & recycling center. Since it is difficult to recycle them, and they are incinerated or put in landfills, waste plastic is becoming a problem in cities and around the rest of the world. By converting this used supply into reclaimed oil and other valuable materials, the goal is to reduce processing costs by 100 million yen and CO2 production by 3,250 tons annually.
The tour will also include an interview with Mr. Yohei Wakabayashi, Mayor of Gotemba, and Mr. Yuichi Deguchi, General Manager of the RICOH Eco Business Development Center.
■Date: Thursday, March 23, 2017 8:30-14:00
■Meeting time and place: 8:30AM, Mishima Station North Gate, JR Tokai (JR Central)
■Location: RICOH Eco Business Development Center (1-10 Komakado, Gotemba, Shizuoka)
＜Schedule＞
8:30 Meet at Mishima Station North Gate, JR Tokai (JR Central)
※Transportation fee and other costs are the responsibility of participants.
8:45-9:30 RICOH Eco Business Development Center by bus chartered by Ricoh
9:30-10:10 Overview of RICOH Eco Business Development Center
10:10-12:00 Facility tour
・Forest biomass utilization
・Converting waste plastic to oil
・Micro hydroelectric power generation
12:00-13:00 Lunch
13:00-14:00 Interview with Mr. Yohei Wakabayashi, Mayor of Gotemba City, and Mr. Yuichi Deguchi, General Manager of the RICOH Eco Business Development Center.
Tour ends at Mishima station after coverage.
*Order of facility tour may change.
■Participation fee: 2,000 yen per person including bus and meal.
■Maximum number of participants: 15 (If the number of applicants exceeds 15, an upper limit may be set on the number of participants from each country/region.)
■Language: Japanese (with English interpretation)
■Deadline for applications: Monday, March 20, 2017
■Note: Facility tour of RICOH Eco Business Development Center is free of charge.
※There may be some restrictions on photographing and filming at the tour sites. Please follow the instructions of the officials on duty.
※Ricoh and the FPCJ will not be liable for any inconvenience, trouble or accidents that might occur during this event.
＜How to apply＞
Please apply by Monday, March 20.
Your application will need to include the items listed below.
Send to; sc@fpcjpn.or.jp (FPCJ Contacts: Ms. Fukasawa / Ms. Yamada)
(1) Applicants name:
(2) Affiliated media organization:
(3) The type of organization (newspaper, magazine, TV etc.):
(4) The nationality of organization:
(5) Phone number, Fax number, Email address:
(6) Mobile number (for emergency contact during the event):
(7) Any food allergy or restrictions:
(8) Questions for Mr. Wakabayashi, Mayor of Gotemba City, and Mr. Deguchi, General Manager of the RICHO Eco Business Development Center.