Making contribution to the society by nurturing children is the core mission of the Kumon Group. However, as an international enterprise which is willing to bear the responsibilities and values the benefit of society, we value the preservation of the global environment. Therefore, “we have incorporated the environmentally-friendly vision into our business planning and will work on a permanent basis to protect our precious planet.” Since the establishment of Kumon China Green Team in March 2011, the team has been working closely with all offices for environmental protection in China. With the principle of “treasuring limited resources”, we take different actions to “conserve energy and resources as well as promote recycling.” We aim at reducing the amount of waste and preventing environmental pollution by minimizing the environmental impact brought by our business activities. In order to achieve the green goal of Kumon China, everyone is striving hard to protect the environment in daily life.
Minimization of wastage and conservation of resources are effective ways to achieve environmental protection. In the past year, offices have taken different measures to minimize paper usage. For examples, offices adopt double-sided printing and encourage the use of electronic channels for document sharing. Associates are encouraged to use recyclable water bottles or tableware. They will also collect used envelopes and notebooks with blank pages for utilizing resources. In order to evaluate the paper consumption effectively, offices will conduct data analysis and provide feedback to teams on a regular basis. With the efforts of associates, the overall paper usage of Kumon China headquarter from the 3rd quarter to the 1st quarter of 2014 has decreased by 25.6%. The paper usage of Kumon Hong Kong in the 2nd quarter of 2013 has a 16.9% decrease while Kumon Shanghai has achieved a 10.7% decrease in the 4th quarter of 2013.
Other than reducing the use of paper, energy conservation is another essential aspect of environmental protection. Offices often emphasize on the importance of minimizing electricity usage and actions are taken to make effective use of energy at work. Associates remain alert to the use of electricity at office. For example, they would switch off the electrical appliances right after using them. They would even switch off the computer screen if they are not at seats for long. Regarding the use of air-conditioners, the room temperature will be strictly controlled to avoid unreasonable electricity consumption. Since associates have strong sense of energy conservation, the result about minimizing the use of electricity is satisfactory. From the 2nd quarter of 2013 to the 1st quarter of 2014, the electricity consumption of Kumon Guangdong, Kumon Hong Kong and Kumon Shanghai have decreased by 41.6%, 4.6% and 2.7% respectively. The consumption of Kumon Beijing Trading has also decreased by 22% in the 1st quarter of 2014.
Every office promotes recycling actively in order to make good use of limited resources of the earth. Associates collect papers, cartons and magazines involved in both business and personal use systematically. All these materials are collected for recycling. Kumon Hong Kong has even carried out the renovation work of sofas and chairs in office. This action helps to minimize wastage and reducing operation cost at the same time. Let Kumon Guangdong as an example for the recycling of paper. With the continuous efforts of associates, a total of 253 kilograms of paper has been accumulated for recycling and the recycling rate has been increased by 23.6% in comparing with last year. This reflects that associates have already incorporated recycling into their daily work life to minimize the environmental impact.
Following the policy of “strive to make each and every Kumon associate more aware of environmental issues through education and consciousness-raising activities”, all offices are making continuous effort to enhance associates and instructors’ awareness towards environmental protection by encouraging them to take green actions. This includes encouraging associates to bring plants to office, sticking labels as reminders of resource conservation, spreading green messages to instructors via monthly newsletters and promoting the green campaigns of specific regions. It is hoped that everyone can make more contribution towards the ultimate green goal.
The Kumon Method utilizes children’s potential to the fullest with continuous learning. Actually, utilizing children’s potential is similar with achieving a green KCN. Both goals require our continuous effort and contribution. If all associates of Kumon China are willing to walk hand in hand for environmental protection, it is believed that we will be able to open a brand new page for green KCN. We will continue to walk towards our goal!
With continuous effort and promotion of offices, associates were highly alert to the use of electricity at office. Electric appliances were switched off immediately after use to minimize unnecessary consumption.
Since CO2 emissions is closely related to electricity usage, the 11.2% decrease of CO2 emissions was caused by the decrease of electricity usage in 2013.
Offices had adopted different measures to reduce paper usage and associates were strongly encouraged to use reusable items as well as collecting useful office materials for re-use purpose.
In 2013, offices tried to make good use of e-channels in distributing materials to associates and instructors. Therefore, the decrease of paper usage had resulted in a decline of recycling rate of paper.
