subject: Environmentally Conscious Mass Production [print this page] Environmentally Conscious Mass Production
The world is experiencing adverse effects of not taking care of the environment and due to that, there have been measures that have been put in place to reverse the effects. Governments have made policies and companies have also developed eco friendly approach to how they handle their businesses. They have become conscious of the environment and the impact their products are making on the environment.
Car manufacturing companies are leading the pack by developing eco friendly vehicles that are efficient and use less fuel, by doing these they are preventing the pollution that comes from the fuel emissions. An example that of one company that has even built a factory that makes environment friendly vehicles in masses is Toyota Company based in Japan. They have developed hybrid vehicles which use two types of engines gas and electric motor to function. They are very fuel efficient and produce less pollution to the environment. Some of the hybrid models are the Toyota Lexus and Toyota Prius.
The hybrid cars use fuel efficiency technology and the electric engine battery is automatically recharged as you drive. The benefits are that car owner saves on gas, as we know the gasoline prices is increasing everyday causing gas prices to shoot up. They also reduce pollution hence keeping the environment clean.
Another sector that are environment conscious is the books industry, many publishers are adopting the new technology of eBooks because many people are able to access the internet globally, on the internet we have millions of eBooks which if they were printed on paper then they could have been very damaging effects to the environment. A Major benefit of eBooks is that some of them can be downloaded for free giving more access to readers.
o We have reduced our water usage per vehicle by 20% since 2003 and continue efforts to improve water management.
Through our aggressive use of waste management and recycling, our North American plants have reduced their landfill waste by 96% or more since 1999.
We are continuing to evaluate materials from renewable resources such as a plastic made from corn and natural fabrics for vehicle interiors. For example, we have introduced a soy oil-based polyurethane foam for use in passenger seats in the Corolla and the Lexus RX.
Currently, our End of Life Vehicle (ELV) recycling/recovery rate is over 90% with a goal of 95% ELV recycling/recovery by 2015.
The use of metal returnable shipping containers in our parts distribution network has saved over 30 million pounds of wood, 10 million pounds of cardboard, and $20 million in packaging costs, since the program launched in 2003.
We have extensive programs to reduce the use of substances of concern (SOCs) in vehicles, minimize undesirable emissions from manufacturing operations, and further improve vehicle emission standards.
