|
Nikon
is promoting environmentally sound manufacturing at its
suppliers. It issued green guidelines to about 500 suppliers
in 1999 and later issued a 46-item environmental self-evaluation
form. Now, Nikon has begun offering consultation and training
for about 130 suppliers that ranked low in the evaluation.
A core emphasis is on complying with the International Organization
for Standardization's ISO 14001 guidelines, a global standard
for environmental management.
|
|
The Mitsubishi
Materials subsidiary Mitsubishi Materials Natural Resources
Development is delighting buyers and sellers of real estate
by providing authoritative soil assays in a standardized
format and at highly competitive prices. Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries, meanwhile, is commercializing technology for
removing dangerous pollutants from the soil.
|
 |
 The
soil-cleansing systems developed by Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries are compact enough to transport anywhere
for on-site processing of polluted soil. |
|
Soil
pollution in Japan is a long-neglected legacy of the imprudent
disposal of industrial waste that preceded modern environmental
regulations. Uncertainty about possible pollution underfoot
complicates the task of pricing real estate. The assay services
from Mitsubishi Materials Natural Resources Development
reduce uncertainty by quantifying pollution and estimating
the cost of countermeasures.
Mitsubishi Materials Natural Resources
Development has decades of successful experience in exploring
for mineral deposits, assaying the quality of ores, planning
resource development projects, evaluating environmental
impact, and devising measures for minimizing environmental
impact. That experience underlies the company's capabilities
in identifying, quantifying, and counteracting soil pollution.
"Due diligence" is the legal
term for exerting a reasonable effort to determine the risks
involved in prospective transactions. The assays performed
by Mitsubishi Materials Natural Resources Development help
counterparties in real estate transactions fulfill their
due diligence obligation. As in most transactions, the buyer
assumes the ultimate risk, subject to various conditions.
But the assays furnish invaluable reference in evaluating
the scope of that risk.
Mitsubishi Materials Natural Resources
Development delivers a report to a client only 10 days after
undertaking a commission. Company engineers study geological
data for the target area, evaluate geological conditions,
conduct an on-site survey, and analyze surface gas and underground
water. Then, they input their findings, conduct a computerized
evaluation, and prepare the report. The company offers the
assay package for a package fee of ?500,000 (about $4,000),
plus any travel expenses. That package pricing simplifies
cost estimates for real estate transactions. Mitsubishi
Materials Natural Resources Development has begun examining
business possibilities with Mitsubishi Estate and Mitsubishi
Corporation. It also is working with companies of other
affiliations, including Mitsui Real Estate Sales.
|
Fixing the problem 1
In addition to conducting soil surveys, Mitsubishi Materials
Natural Resources Development counteracts soil pollution
in three ways:
- ☻ remove the polluted soil and
transport it ?to processing sites
- ☻ process the polluted soil on-site
and ?return it to its original position
- ☻inject chemicals into the ground
to ?neutralize pollutants
The company has conducted assays at
scores of sites and has rectified the pollution at several
of those sites. |
 |
| This
3D computer visualization indicates the extent of
soil pollution at a survey site. |
 |
| An
engineer uses a portable gas chromatographic system
to analyze soil composition. |
|
Fixing
the problem 2
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries set up a business unit last
year to commercialize its capabilities in soil cleansing.
Those capabilities are a combination of original expertise
and imported technology.
Among the most worrisome pollutants in
soil and ground water are volatile organic solvents, heavy
metals, oils, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Oils
and PCBs are especially difficult to remove from soil and
ground water. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has licensed technology
from California-based Terraclean for removing PCBs and various
oils from soil and ground water with a solvent and for recovering
and recycling all of the solvent. That technology has earned
a certification for effectiveness from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and has rendered service in soil cleanup
projects at military bases and industrial sites around the
world.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a leading
maker of systems for processing volatile organic solvents.
It combines the Terraclean technology with its equipment
in mobile, cost-competitive systems. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
is augmenting the systems with original technology for breaking
down the PCBs that they recover. Promising applications
include oil-polluted earth under and around Japan's gasoline
stations and oil refineries and PCB-tainted ground in the
vicinities of factories. |
|
|
Nikon
helps suppliers get greener
