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Global Activities
- FY2010
- FY2009
Global
Toshiba Youth Conference for a Sustainable Future 2011
In August 2011, we held the 4th Toshiba Youth Conference for a Sustainable Future by the Toshiba International Foundation, an event that gathered 10 teachers and 17 highschool students from Japan, the United States, Thailand, and Poland to discuss environmental issues with this year's theme, “Achieving Harmony with the Earth.” While the last two conferences were held in Japan, we held a camp in Thailand this year. Through multifaceted program involving group discussions, learning about the value of waste by exploring earthworm farm and making bio-diesel from used cooking oil, rice planting, soap and charcoal making, water diverting etc., we helped to foster youth that will think and act on environmental issues with a global perspective.
The group photo
Students from different countries in a discussion
Experienced threshing
Presentation on the closing day
Carbon Dioxide Reduction/Light-Down Campaign in Japan
We participated in the Black Illumination 2010 campaign (June 21) and the Star Festival Light-Down campaign (July 7) organized by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment and turned off all signboard illuminations in offices and towns. Toshiba Group designated the period between June 20 and July 7 as a voluntary campaign period and saved 13,298 kWh of electricity at 81 facilities in Japan and abroad. This amounts to about 3.7 years of electricity consumed by one home.
Earth Hour 2011
Toshiba Group companies in various countries around the world participated in Earth Hour 2011, an event hosted by the World Wildlife Fund that calls for people to make a global effort to turn off lights at the same time. On the day of the event, in addition to turning off signboards and other outdoor lights in major cities worldwide, including New York, Paris, London, Jakarta, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Mumbai, Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, our companies called on their employees to reduce electricity consumption.
Americas
Participating in Earth Day in New York
Signboard advertising at Times Square
Toshiba America, Inc. participated in the April 2011 Earth Day event held in New York. We installed a booth in Grand Central Station to introduce our wide range of environmentally conscious products. In addition, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. and the American National Red Cross jointly set up a booth in Times Square to collect donations for the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake to support reconstruction efforts in Japan.
At the same time, Toshiba America made the most of mass media, including signboards, Facebook, and radio, to emphasize Toshiba's stance toward environmental issues.
A Toshiba America manager appeared on a popular U.S. radio program to emphasize Toshiba's environmental initiatives
Toshiba booth in Grand Central Station
Environmental awareness activities in Brazil
The Belo Horizonte plant of Toshiba Corp.'s Social Infrastructure Systems Company (South America) has actively been engaged in environmental activities. As part of these activities, the company is striving to ensure full communication with the local community. FY2010 activities covered a wide range of areas, including explanations to 1,300 of employees and local citizens about the plant's environmental initiatives, a donation of 500 kg of food in a campaign to reduce leftover food, and continuous efforts to keep parks and lakes clean. Thus the company contributes to raising the environmental awareness of both employees and local residents.
Event on Toshiba's environmental conservation and other efforts
Campaign to keep parks clean
Europe
Tree-planting projects in Germany and the United Kingdom
Toshiba Europe GmbH (Germany) and Toshiba Information Systems Ltd. (United Kingdom) are implementing tree-planting projects in their countries. These projects, which enable users to donate to tree-planting programs when purchasing one of the notebook PCs or TV sets covered by the projects, have been positively received as initiatives for raising environmental awareness together with customers. Thus far, a total of 2,000 trees have been planted in Germany and 5,000 in the U.K.
Introducing LED lamps to the Louvre in France
© 2007 Musee du Louvre / Ieoh Ming Pei / Angele Dequier
In the Louvre's project to improve its lighting, Toshiba Corp. is providing LED lamps and supporting repair work. Our quality LED lighting technology is highly rated worldwide, and we have entered into a partnership agreement with the museum to jointly create a “lighting culture” with a focus on reducing environmental impacts. This project aims to reduce such impacts by replacing conventional incandescent lamps with more energy-saving LEDs. Plans call for Toshiba to deliver some 3,200 LED lamps to the museum by 2012 in order to illuminate the exhibits.
China
Exhibiting at the Green Expo Japan-China 2011
In June 2011, Toshiba Group exhibited at the Green Expo Japan- China 2011, which took place in Beijing, China.
Under the theme “Balancing pursuit of affluent lifestyles and environmental conservation,” the Group exhibited approximately 50 items in five categories: local communities, facilities, energy, homes, and offices. At our booths, we presented our vision for future cities, “Smart communities,” as well as our latest environmentally conscious products, attracting the attention of visitors.
Promoting activities to protect rare animals
Since 2007, Toshiba TEC Information Systems (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. has donated funds to care for and provide medical treatment to twin pandas as part of its initiatives to protect rare animals. The twin pandas are named “Dongdong (東東)” and “Zhizhi (芝芝)” after the Toshiba (東芝) company name, and the company is using this opportunity to continuously emphasize the importance of protecting rare animals as the twins grow through mass media both inside and outside the company.
The company is also actively engaged in tree-planting and clean-up activities in Shenzhen to contribute to the neighboring communities.
Asia Oceania
Participating in the "WEEE Can Do" project in Thailand
Toshiba Thailand Co., Ltd. is participating in the "WEEE Can Do" project, a campaign sponsored by the Thai government to collect and recycle waste electric and electronic equipment. This project targets mobile phones, printers, multifunctional peripherals, DVD players, game consoles, etc., and similar devices. Collection and recycling will occur from June through December 2011. Toshiba Thailand has installed recycling boxes at its group companies to allow its employees to easily recycle, thereby making a contribution to increase the amount of devices collected and raise employees' environmental awareness.
Opening ceremony held in June 2011
Recycling box
Supporting a project to provide solar lanterns in India
Toshiba Plant Systems and Services Corp. is supporting the “Solar Lantern Project,” an initiative to deliver lighting to people who live without electricity. The company supported NPO Gaia Initiative and provided rural communities in the Indian state of Rajasthan with a solar station consisting of 50 solar lanterns as well as solar battery charging equipment.
lanterns being charged
Japan
Support for the Nationwide Campaign for Community Cleaning
A total of 293 bags of combustibles, 84 bags of incombustibles, and 68 bags of PET bottles were collected.
Since 2007, the Toshiba Solutions Group has supported the nationwide campaign for community cleaning, a volunteer activity organized by citizens. In FY2010, it participated in all stages of the activity, from the eight months of planning and preparation to clean the banks of the lower course of the Arakawa River to the actual cleaning on the designated day. On cleaning day, 400 participants, including 138 volunteers from the Group, collected a total of three tons of garbage.
Environmental education at elementary schools
Since 2009, employees from Toshiba Corp.'s Yokkaichi Operations have visited elementary schools to hold environmental education classes using textbooks developed in partnership with Yokkaichi City and Mie Prefecture. In FY2010, a total of 300 students from four elementary schools participated in these classes, which were reported on by several TV stations and newspapers.
Textbook for FY2010
Class held by a visiting teacher
Toshiba Science Museum
Environmental quiz for elementary school students
The Toshiba Science Museum offers a wide range of exhibits on topics from the history of Toshiba to cutting-edge technology, attracting some 130,000 visitors from Japan and abroad annually. Among others, the presentations on environmentally conscious products and environmental quizzes and seminars for different age groups are well received by the numerous guests. In FY2011, the museum initiated a tour*1 combining visits to its facilities and the Toshiba Yokohama Complex's lagoon*2.
- *1
- Designed for students in the fifth and sixth grades of elementary school
- *2
- A stretch of water in which a wide range of plants and animals live
Promotion of the Environmental Accounts Campaign
Since 2005, Toshiba Group has participated in the Eco Family campaign of Japan's Ministry of the Environment in order to improve environmental awareness among our employees and facilitate environmental conservation activities at home. In March 2011, the number of families with a registered environmental accounts book, a key element of this initiative, was approximately 40,000. In 2007, upon the number exceeding 20,000, the Group was officially commended by the Minister of the Environment, and in recent years, we calculated CO2 emissions from the families of our employees in Japan on a trial basis using data from these environmental accounts books. As typified by these and other efforts, we have actively carried out activities in this area. Though the Eco Family campaign ended on March 31, 2011, we will continue to support each family's efforts by providing tools for downloading the environmental accounts books and in other ways. In addition, we officially registered for Power Saving Action, a campaign for the summer of 2011 led by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. Thus we will continue to actively promote energy-saving efforts at home by the families of our employees.
Number of Toshiba Group employee families registered with the Eco Family campaign
Policy
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Communication
