Promoting Design for the Environment
Development of Low-Environmental- Burden Materials
Canon seeks to lower the burden its operations place on the environment by reducing the volume of CO2 it emits and the amount of resources it consumes. In addition, we are promoting the development of low environmental impact materials to use in our products.
Contributing to Global Warming Prevention through the Introduction of Bio-Based Plastics
In its drive to adopt low-environmental- burden materials, Canon Inc. is focusing on bio-based plastics, which are a type of plastic with a plant-derived component. In 2008, we succeeded in producing a bio-based plastic, jointly developed with Toray Industries, Inc., with the world's highest level of flame retardance.
This new material gained the BiomassPla Mark, based on the BiomassPla Identification and Labeling system of the Japan BioPlastics Association, and is already in use in the exterior parts of the imageRUNNER ADVANCE series of office MFDs. We expanded the use of bio-based plastic in 2010 by including it in other imageRUNNER ADVANCE models as well as in the Satera series of laser printers (Japan only).
We have also continued to improve bio-based plastic for use in large parts. The external parts of our imagePRESS C7010VP/C6010 digital production printer are the largest bio-based plastic parts in use in the industry.
Bio-based plastics, which curb increases in CO2 and reduce the consumption of oil resources, offer material properties that effectively reduce environmental burden. To date, however, bio-based plastics have not performed as well as conventional petroleum-based plastics in such areas as flame retardance, impact resistance, heat resistance and formability, and therefore their use in products had been limited.
Using new material design and molding technologies, the new bio-based plastic achieves greatly enhanced material characteristics. This is the world's first bio-based plastic applicable for use in exterior parts of office MFDs.
This bio-based plastic is also expected to help reduce CO2 over the entire product lifecycle, because the use of bio-based plastic results a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions during the manufacturing process in comparison with petrochemical-based plastics used in producing MFDs up to now.
In addition, we believe that deploying bio-based plastic for operational switches and other components with which users make direct physical contact provides an invaluable opportunity to raise the user's environmental awareness.
We will continue to develop this technology to improve bio-based plastic and expand its applications and uses.
Examples of parts that incorporate bio-based plastics
Bio-Based Plastic Material Cycle
Introduction of a Design for the Environment Method that Considers Product Lifecycles
Canon is striving to link its cost engineering framework to reducing the environmental burden. We introduced a new Design for the Environment (DfE) method in 2009 and are pursuing environmental designs that take into account entire product lifecycles.
Specifically, during product design we establish CO2 emission reduction targets for each stage of the product lifecycle, including production and use.
As a result of the introduction of this method, the imageRUNNER ADVANCE series of office MFDs cut 15 to 40% off CO2 emissions over the entire lifecycle compared with conventional models.
In the future, we will extend this method to other products in pursuit of further CO2 emission reductions.
Resource-Efficient Product Design
To help build a recycling-oriented society, Canon focuses on the development of resource-efficient products characterized by reduced size and weight, as well as easy-to-recycle product designs.
Smaller, Lighter Products
Canon aims to make its products among the smallest and lightest in each product group. To improve functionality and usability while requiring fewer resources, we focus on reducing weight and size from the development stage.
We apply this approach to cameras, business machines, mirror projection aligners and medical equipment, overcoming design issues.
In 2010 we reduced the size and weight of a number of equipment models, with volume ratio reductions in comparison with previous models of 9% for the PIXMA MG6100 series 30% for the CXDI 70C wireless radiology system, and 30% for the CR-2 digital non-mydriatic retinal camera.
Recycle-Conscious Designs
Regardless of where the product will be sold the development and design stages, Canon take account of the 65% recyclability and 75% recoverability required by the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive*1) *2
As a result, in 2010 we again achieved our targets for recyclability, recoverability, and ease of processing*3 for all products covered by WEEE.
Previously, we were already gathering basic information relating to waste and recycling required to conform to the WEEE Directive, the Battery Directive*4, and other regulations from the design stage onward. In 2010, we established a system for providing detailed data based on the category and type applicable according to the laws and processing scheme of each country based on these directives. This has enabled us to make simple and accurate measurements of emissions and recycling volumes and to achieve more precise data management.
- *1WEEE Directive
This EU directive requires manufacturers to recover or recycle devices after use to prevent environmental pollution caused by waste electrical and electronic equipment. - *2Recyclability and recoverability apply to products falling under WEEE Directive Category 3 (IT and Telecommunications Equipment) and Category 4 (Consumer Equipment).
- *3Ease of processing
Ease of breaking down main products into their constituent parts as designated by the WEEE Directive regarding the disassembly process. - *4Battery Directive
The EU Battery Directive requires the creation of structures for the collection and recycling of batteries containing environmental pollutants.
