Disposable wooden chopsticks and handkerchiefs...
  Both are small important tools that are always close at hand and essential to our lives. From this perspective, we have called upon our staff to begin activities for "making peace with the world" in the area of ecology.
  I always wipe my hands with a handkerchief after using the restroom rather than a paper towel. Paper towels disappeared from the restrooms of Kato Spring after my proposal of, "Why not take paper towels out of the company restrooms. I believe the volume of trees saved would be enormous if all the people in the world stopped using paper towels." The important thing is to start something. And to imagine "all the people in the world."
  A newspaper article about resource recycling written some time ago stated that a certain major semiconductor manufacturer in Japan calculated the amount of old paper it collected by converting the volume to A4-size. The result was 400 million sheets a year. This would be about 11 times the height of Mt. Fuji (3,776m). The most surprising thing is that this is only one company. Another fact of interest is that to make the settlement papers of a major manufacturer requires pulp from 1,000 trees.
  I am not optimistic about the future of a materialistic civilization that is proceeding in this manner, and my sense of crisis is increasing annually. I feel that we must deal more seriously and in more depth with the issues of being kinder to the earth and living harmoniously with nature, as it seems that the morals of people on earth today are deteriorating.
  When you go to a restaurant, disposable wooden chopsticks are always provided. When you ask for a new entree, you are again provided with another set of chopsticks. I heard that a statistical calculation made ten years ago revealed that the total number of disposable wooden chopsticks used by Japanese in one year totaled 24 billion. This has probably not changed that much over the years. Although some chopsticks are recycled into charcoal, deodorants and wood chips, the collection rate is not high. I believe that a small circle of recycling could spread forth among all Japanese just by demonstrating the attitude and small act illustrated by the following at a restaurant. When new chopsticks are brought along with a new entree, just tell the staff, "I'll just use the ones I was given at the start of the meal."
  In April 1992, Kato Spring began the Kato Green Project (KGP). I believe that this was faster than most other corporate environmental movements. Chlorofluorocarbons became a focus of global attention as an ozone-depleting substance (ODS) in 1995, and the movement to eliminate them rapidly gained worldwide support. Trichloroethane, which had been used by Kato Spring for a lengthy period to clean metallic parts, was made a subject of regulations, like chlorofluorocarbons were, due to being categorized as an ODS. The KGP repeated many trials and errors and temporarily decided to use trichloroethylene. We have recently shifted to a cleaning method that is even gentler on the environment. We are earnestly working to eliminate all trichloroethylene by March 2000. In addition to being a global environmental problem, it has become an urgent problem that is related to the continued existence of Kato Spring.
  Naturally, customers want products that are not cleaned by chemicals. We must develop an alternative to trichloroethylene and meet the expectations of our customers. These types of challenges that differ from traditional company activities will probably increase in the future.
  However, one thing that can be declared is that no matter how large a company and how long its history, if it doesn't accept such societal trends, it will not be able to stop its demise.
  The same applies to the issue of corporate ethics. Until now there was probably a generally accepted position that placed greater priority on corporate activities that leaned towards profits rather than a balance between morals and money. This was due to the atmosphere of the era.
  It is necessary to first be aware that such matters are viewed differently by society now. Companies that have been criticized for their ethics have no backbone for supporting internal morals. In other words, we must start from the awareness that society itself has changed. The building of a "Win-Win" relationship between society and companies and companies and company members is not an optimistic theory or desktop theory. It is truly a sincere proposition that is directly related to the existence of a company.