In recent years, the awareness of environmental problems aroused by the international society has been continuously rising. That is because environmental pollution not only affects the biophysical environment, but also possibly endangers the lives of human beings and animals, and initiates numerous natural disasters. Since its establishment, Kumon China (KCN) has been bearing an important responsibility of conserving the Earth’s environment. Through internal promotions and appeals from the KCN Green Team, we have prompted all associates to take part in the eco-friendly activities collaboratively in order to create an environment that can be sustainably developed for the offspring. The following summarizes some significant green actions that we have done in the annual year of 2019 – 2020 and compares the environmental data between 2018 and 2019 for general information.
1) Saved Energy & Protected Ecosystems
As we all know, fossil fuel is the major source of electricity. During the process of power generation, a large amount of air pollutants will be produced, which severely affect the air quality and exacerbate the greenhouse effect. Hence, we have exerted our utmost efforts to save electricity in two major ways. We consciously turned off electrical appliances like lights, air conditioners, and computers after use. Besides, we pasted green reminders on or near those electrical appliances for prompting associates to select energy-saving mode and disconnect the electricity supply when not in use. For example, the Shanghai warehouse of Kumon Beijing Trading (KBT) applied natural lighting in the daytime instead of using indoor lighting, so that unnecessary energy consumption could be cut down, making efforts to protect the biophysical environment.
2) Sowed Green Plants to Build a Low Carbon Workplace
Green plants not only can decorate our indoor environments but also can absorb carbon dioxide from the air and carry out photosynthesis in the daytime, helping to build a low carbon workplace. We have encouraged our associates to sow potted plants and place them on the desks to improve fatigue and anxiety at work. Moreover, we have purchased and placed some large green plants in the public areas of the offices. These green actions have enhanced the air quality of the working environments from an overall perspective and increased indoor humidity. By adopting different kinds of energy-saving measures and sowing green plants, we are pleased to see that the carbon dioxide emission decreased from 148 tons in 2018 by 102 tons to 46 tons in 2019.
3) Reduced the Paper Usage & Implemented Electronic Office
Producing paper needs to cut down lots of trees and waste plenty of oils. In order to better conserve the forests and cherish the natural resources, we have actively motivated our associates to make use of different means to save paper and implement electronic office, such as sending files through email and using double-sided printing. For instance, Kumon Hong Kong (KHK) employed an electronic health declaration form for the first time in its instructor conference to avoid producing a large number of printouts. Instructors only needed to scan a QR code for accessing the electronic form, and then they could complete and submit it on the internet. With the united efforts made by all associates to minimize the paper usage collaboratively, the paper usage decreased by 89,540 sheets from 2018 to 2019, resulting in a reduction of 11%.
4) Recycled Cardboard Boxes for Efficient Use
In the daily operation of the offices, we needed to use cardboard boxes efficiently for transporting items like learning materials, event goods, and promotional materials. During the process, many abandoned cardboard boxes were produced, and the problem of garbage accumulation was caused. Facing this problem, we have spared no effort to collect and reuse abandoned cardboard boxes for mailing or recycling to fully utilize them. Besides, we have collected and recycled useless paper and reused single-sided printouts. Affected by the actions of recycling paper and cardboard boxes, the amount of paper put out for recycling in 2019 had an increase of 5%, as compared to that of 2018.
Living in the same Earth, breathing the same air, and sharing the same resources. Being a part of the society, KCN will persistently take various eco-friendly measures to help conserving the natural ecosystems and saving the natural resources, so that our next generation can grow up to be strong and healthy in a wonderful environment.
