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In addition to Panasonic's endless pursuit to make its products safer for the planet, Panasonic works closely with organizations dedicated to bettering the environment. From planting trees in the Amazon to donating Toughbook® mobile computers to Wildlife Trust, Panasonic is involved with a number of major eco-friendly projects worldwide.
Creative Design Challenge
Putting the engineering and technical skills of New Jersey high school students to the test, the 2009 Panasonic Creative Design Challenge focused on environmental consciousness as it relates to design. Working with the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Panasonic again sponsored the contest, entitled, "Beach Sweeps." Teams were challenged to design and construct a robotic device to clean up coastal shores, performing tasks such as picking up and sorting plastics and metals into recycling bins and planting sea grass in sand dunes. Each task was based on real-life initiatives that are being used to improve our environment. The Panasonic Creative Design Challenge encourages group problem-solving and teamwork, while helping students apply critical thinking and an understanding of the impact of trade-offs in design and development. In addition, the program encourages students to demonstrate effective communication and presentation skills; while showing that science can be fun.
Beachwalk Project
Panasonic is proud to be a sponsor of Beachwalk Project's efforts to keep global watersheds clean and raise awareness of these vital natural resources. The project is being accomplished by a team that travels hundreds of miles by foot and by kayak along coastlines worldwide. Toughbook computers make the journey too.
Panasonic has given the group two Toughbook 19 environmentally-friendly computers, which offer built-in wireless technology, screens that can be used in direct sunlight, and hardware that can withstand sand and water. Beachwalk Project members use the laptops for outreach presentations, on-site blogs and Web updates.
Wildlife Trust
Toughbook rugged laptops can be used in harsh environments and can withstand anything from intense humidity to bat guano. Panasonic has donated several Toughbook mobile computers to scientists working for Wildlife Trust, which is striving to understand the links between ecosystems, wildlife and human health. Wildlife Trust researchers are using Toughbook laptops for numerous activities, from recording bird data in New York to analyzing bat recordings in the deep, humid caves of Bolivia.
Scientists use Toughbook mobile computers not only for their durability in harsh environments but also for their long battery lives and touch screens.
Says Dr. Mary C. Pearl, Wildlife Trust president: "We've learned that in the field not every computer is up to the task of mobility. We've seen hardware failures, poor screen readability, and insufficient battery life. Our scientists need to focus on conducting research — not managing technology. That's why we use Toughbook computers."
Clean Action Ocean
Not only does Panasonic make environmentally-friendly computers, but its employees are environmentally-conscious. Panasonic's U.S. employees participate in an annual event each spring organized by Clean Action Ocean to help clean local beaches. In 2007 alone, volunteers collected nearly 304,042 items off the beaches of New Jersey. Clean Action Ocean, which aims to protect East Coast waterways through legislative and public outreach, research and clean-up events, has managed to close eight ocean dumpsites and influence several new clean water laws. The group is working to establish the nation's first "Clean Ocean Zone".
Manaus Reforestation
During the last five months of 2007, an area of tropical rainforest the size of Rhode Island was lost due to deforestation. Panasonic is one of many companies to take part in the effort to make sure the world doesn't lose the Amazon, the highest concentration of plant diversity in the world.
To assist in reducing pollution caused by industrialization and urbanization in Brazil, Panasonic donated 2,500 trees to the city of Manaus in the heart of the Amazon. Panasonic employees planted the donated trees throughout the city, which has been combating rapid forest depletion.
World Wildlife Fund
From the Bearing Sea to the Northern Plains, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has worked to conserve the planet's wildlife. And Panasonic is happy to help WWF in its preservation efforts.
Panasonic has been supporting WWF's Japan marine program -- which has launched efforts to limit the slaughter of whales -- since 2000. In 2007, Panasonic increased involvement with WWF by sponsoring the Yellow Sea Ecoregion Planning Program, which aims to improve the waters off the coasts of Japan, China and South Korea. The region has been plagued with massive red tide breakouts, pollution and overfishing.
In return, WWF has crafted guidelines to help Panasonic improve its paper purchasing policy to ensure more responsible sourcing.
Panasonic Eco Technology Center
Panasonic goes beyond regulatory compliance. The company has been engaged in voluntary recycling activities in numerous countries spanning two decades.
In 2000, Panasonic established the Panasonic Eco Technology Center (PETEC) in Kato City, Japan, an experimental appliance recycling facility. The recycling system allows end-of-life Panasonic products to be "reborn" as new products. In fiscal 2007, approximately 670,000 appliances were recycled. In addition to recycling, the center performs research and development that leads to the design of new products that are easier to recycle.
Tsukuba Environmental Forum
Panasonic supports numerous endeavors to better society through the Non-Profit Organization (NPO) Support Fund, a comprehensive program that provides financial assistance and project expertise to non profit organizations across the world.
One of the financial beneficiaries is the Tsukuba Environmental Forum, which organizes environmental preservation and educational activities for youth in Tsukuba, a city located in the greater Tokyo area. The forum typically offers classes and workshops held outdoors in the forests and mountains of the region.
Eco & UD Model House
Panasonic hopes to contribute to creating new value for societies. In order to create a concrete, easy-to-understand model of what Panasonic means by this, the company has constructed the "Eco & UD Model House" within the Panasonic Center in Tokyo.
The Eco & UD house offers a comfortable and abundant living environment based on the concepts of Eco (coexistence with the environment) and Universal Design (user-friendly living environments for a greater number of people). With this simulated house, Panasonic hopes to be a model for other green companies as well as future home developers.
Hackensack Riverkeeper
Panasonic is proud to be a strategic partner with Hackensack Riverkeeper. A focus of Hackensack Riverkeeper's mission is to protect, preserve and restore the Hackensack River watershed in northern New Jersey and southern New York. Volunteers work on foot to clear trash and other debris from the banks of the river as well as pulling trash out of the river from canoes.
Once a year, on Earth Day, Panasonic invites its employees in the area to help the organization clean the crucial watershed.
Electronic Recycling Events
Electronic products improve the way we live, work and play, but there is one place where they should have no impact - the environment. Panasonic and its employees help protect and preserve the planet's ecosystem through responsible recycling of electronic products. During the 2007 calendar year, Panasonic helped properly recycle approximately 3.3 million pounds of electronics and participated in 154 events nationwide. Panasonic is also working with recyclers in Maine and Minnesota, states with producer-responsibility laws and has collected approximately 1.3 million pounds of unwanted electronics.
New Jersey Meadowlands Commission
In an effort to protect and enrich its surrounding environment, Panasonic is building 25 Tree Swallow nest boxes for donation to the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, as well as 3 boxes for placement around Panasonic's New Jersey campus. Volunteers are assembling nesting boxes in hopes of increasing the Tree Swallow population around the Meadowlands District area. These fascinating and beneficial birds are not only beautiful but are voracious insectivores that love to feed on mosquitoes and other pesky insects inhabiting the local marsh area. The completed nesting boxes will be placed in the Meadowlands in early 2009.
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