Biodiversity Conservation

We both benefit from and affect biodiversity in myriad ways. Epson believes that preserving biodiversity is also vital to maintaining our business activities and our employees' lifestyles. Basically, we look to preserve biodiversity throughout our business activities and to raise employee awareness of its importance.



Approach



We are steadily mitigating the impact of five factors that cause biodiversity loss with initiatives in climate change strategy, resource recycling and conservation, and pollution prevention and chemical management.

Factor Relationship to Epson Theme Main Initiatives
Climate change Greenhouse gas emissions Climate change strategy Energy-saving product designs
Production and transport measures
Land use Land alternations accompanying underground resource mining Resource recycling
Resource saving
Reduced-resource products and recycling
Reduced resource inputs
Waste recycling
Non-native species Introduced along with imports of raw materials, parts, etc.
Overconsumption Consumption of timber resources
Pollution Release of chemicals into the environment due to insufficient control Pollution prevention and chemical management Reduced inclusion in products and use during manufacturing of hazardous substances


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Conservation of Wildlife

Loggerhead Turtle Nesting and Hatching Support (Spain)

Epson Iberica, S.A.U. (EIB) extended support to a loggerhead turtle conservation effort organized by a Catalonian ecological protection group GEPEC-EdC at La Pineda Beach in northeastern Spain in July 2020. This effort focused on improving the beach conditions and protecting eggs during the hatching process so that endangered1 loggerhead turtles can easily nest on the beach and lay eggs.

The number of adult loggerhead turtles is decreasing due to reasons such as marine pollution and accidental capture. There is also concern about a decrease in the juvenile population due to the loss of nesting habitats around the world, as well as from human disturbances, such as noise and light, which affect the nesting behavior of loggerhead turtles and make it difficult for hatchlings to return to the sea. EIB is also contributing to the maintenance and recovery of the species by helping to create and display banners. These banners, prepared in four languages, are used to inform and educate both locals and tourists about loggerhead turtles and the conservation effort.

1 Listed as Vulnerable (VU) in the IUCN Red List (Version 3.1).

Weather-resistant informational/educational banner printed using
an Epson signage printer
A protected area on a beach for eggs

Conservation of Wildlife Resources in Taiwan

The Pinglin district, the famous tea-growing region in the north of Taiwan, is the natural habitat of the Taiwan blue magpie, a unique bird of Taiwan. The district is part of the Feitsui Dam water preserve, but in recent years, large-scale tea cultivators in this region have become over-reliant on agrochemicals. These agrochemicals are contaminating the land and water and are threatening the survival of local wildlife. To protect the Taiwan blue magpie, which is registered as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Ver. 3.1), some local tea growers have been focusing on organic cultivation. However, these organic growers, who cannot use any agrochemicals and who have to pick the leaves entirely by hand, have seen their harvests cut nearly in half. Currently only about 10% of the tea gardens in Pinglin are organic.

From 2017 to 2019, Epson Taiwan Technology & Trading Ltd. (ETT), along with a number of major companies, participated as a corporate sponsor in a program to help preserve wildlife in the Feitsui watershed. During those three years, a total of about 100 ETT employees and family members dress up in the traditional costumes of tea leave pickers and go out to organic tea gardens two or three times a year to help harvest the leaves, which must be picked entirely by hand. The organic tea gardens are home to butterflies and other insects, but the participants were most excited by the discovery of several Taiwan blue magpies.
ETT will support biodiversity conservation activities as it looks to raise employee awareness of environmental issues.

Activities in Protected Area (U.K.)

Epson Telford Ltd. (ETL) is a core production site for manufacturing ink cartridges for European market and textile ink. It was the first site within the Epson group to achieve ISO14001 and participates in many environmental preservation activities such as recycling of wastes and energy-saving. With an area of 220, 000 m², the site includes a nature reserve that many rabbits have made their home.

ETL has not only reduced its production based environmental impact, but also protects and supports its local environment by:

  • Setting aside about 1/3 of its land for the nature reserve,
    • Creating special areas to preserve the habitat of the crested newt and great burnet2, which have been specified as rare species in the U.K.
    • Planting trees to offset company car emissions
    • Introducing bee hives within the site so as to improve the diversity of local living creature and preserve bee species.


Also other local species have visited or have made homes within the sites.

  • Raptors: Buzzards, kestrels, owls
  • Birds: Partridges, red starts, yellow hammers, green woodpeckers
  • Others: Foxes, etc.

2 Both species have been registered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the Red List (Least Concern: LC).

Bee hives introduced in the site
Pond in the special area


Conservation of Natural Environment

Coral Reef Transplant Project (Indonesia)

PT. Epson Batam (PEB) has been helping to back a coral transplant project on Abang Island since 2015 to preserve biodiversity. The project, which involves people from Indonesia's fishing and tourist industries as well as government and NGOs, is growing coral reefs (coral gardens) by transplanting about 500 coral fragments every year over a gradually larger area. Residents of Abang Island are hopeful that the transplanted coral can improve the environment for fish and increase their numbers.
In August 2022, after a two-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, PEB employees themselves dove under the sea to check coral growth.

Greening and Beautification Activities (Global)

Epson employees around the world participate in local greening and beautification activities to keep our communities looking nice and to foster a spirit of community volunteerism and activism.

Employees of Epson Wuxi Co., Ltd. (China) and members of their families have been participating in local tree planting events that have taken place every March since 2010. In 2023, 37 participants planted trees at the event, contributing to the ecosystem conservation and restoration of the Taihu Lake basin.

Tree planting in the Taihu Lake basin

Started in 1992, employees of Epson Portland Inc. (U.S.) volunteer their time to pick up garbage several times a year along a section of U.S. Highway 26,which runs just north of the company.

Highway clean-up

PT. Epson Batam (Indonesia) participated in the National Waste Care Activity in March 2019. This activity was conducted in response to a call fromadministrative agencies such as Batam's Ministry of Environment. At the coast of Tanjung Uma, 13 employees picked up plastics and organic waste,which they then delivered to a recycling facility.

Conservation of Forests

Epson is working to preserve the world's forests by curbing environmental destruction caused by illegal logging and by enriching communication through the use of sustainable paper.

Using Limited Resources Effectively by Leveraging Our Unique Paper Recycling Technology

Paper is produced from wood taken from the forests, but the A-8000 spares our forests by producing new copy paper from used documents right in the office.

Epson uses the A-8000 extensively to recycle and reproduce paper used on its own sites. Since 2018, this recycled paper has been used to produce orientation training materials and business documents. It is being used for calendars and employee business cards. This paper is also used for notebooks and memo pads, and we plan to further expand uses in the near future. The production of paper and paper-based goods has expanded the range of job opportunities for the staff of Epson Mizube Corp., a special subsidiary that supports the employment of persons with disabilities and is involved in these activities. Epson also uses a machine that employs dry fiber technology to upcycle recovered paper into waste-ink pads for inkjet printers and sound absorbing materials for the A-8000.

Calendars made using recycled paper
Waste ink pads for inkjet printers
(maintenance box)
PaperLab A-8000
Dry-process office papermaking system

Partnership to Conserve and Restore the World's Forests

Seiko Epson Corporation has launched a three-year international partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) global conservation organization to conserve and restore forests around the world. Epson endorses the WWF's aim to realize a sustainable future where people and nature can live in harmony. Accordingly, we are also donating to the forest conservation activities performed by the WWF in various places around the world such as Southeast Asia and South America.

Epson Paper Products Procurement

Epson manages its entire supply chain from the immediate supplier all the way back to the forest to ensure the legality, sustainability and environmental safety of the paper products we procure.