All Nikon Plants Achieve Zero Emissions

Nikon Corporation (SHIMAMURA, Teruo, President & COO) recently completed the establishment of a zero-emission system at its Ohi Plant (Tokyo), Yokohama Plant (Kanagawa), Sagamihara Plant (Kanagawa) and Kumagaya Plant (Saitama). As the Mito Plant (Ibaraki) completed development of its zero-emission system in September 2002, this means that all Nikon Corporation's plants are now operating with zero emissions.

• Note: At Nikon, "zero emissions" has been defined as landfilled wastes accounting for no more than 1% of total emissions.

Nikon has defined "the construction of a zero-emission system at all Nikon plants in fiscal year 2004 ended March 31" as a key corporate objective among midterm environmental objectives in the "Nikon Environmental Action Plan". At the same time, we enhanced efforts to reduce waste and promote recycling, and as a result were able to achieve our goals a year ahead of schedule.
We will continue to implement a range of activities in Nikon group companies, and plan to establish a zero-emission system for all major Japanese manufacturing subsidiaries by fiscal 2006.

• Note: Sendai Nikon Corporation (Miyagi), a subsidiary manufacturing cameras and other products, established a zero-emission system in February 2002.

Outline of Nikon's Zero-Emission Activities

1. Promotion of the 4R principle, adding Return (to vendors) to the existing 3R principle of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
2. Promotion of material recycling^*1 and thermal recycling^*2 with more detailed classification and sorting of wastes (metals, paper, wood, plastic, etc.).
3. Recycling of machining sludge in cement manufacturing, copper refining and other applications.
4. Utilization of out-of-spec lenses as general educational materials.
5. Use of waste compressor and crusher to reduce waste volume, minimizing waste storage space and reducing the number of trucks required for waste transport.

• *1Recycling by utilizing waste as raw materials for the manufacture of cement, copper and steel products.
• *2Recycling by utilizing the heat produced by combusting waste to produce hot water, steam or electrical power, or by converting the waste directly into Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF).