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DOWA group believes that a company must contribute to society. We are committed to be actively involved in CSR activities to respond to global problem including global warming and depletion of resources through our main business activities.
We are aggressively deploying our business operations throughout the world, especially in Asia, focusing more on global issues and further contributing to humanity internationally.
Toward Low Carbon Society
DOWA group continues to be committed to building a "low carbon society," by reduction of energy in manufacturing products or emission of greenhouse gasses through reviewing our manufacturing processes. We also engage in a variety of business activities required for the reduction of carbon.
Silver, is used in the electrodes of solar panels of photovoltaic generation, which is now in the spotlight. DOWA's materials play an important role in the field of photovoltaic; DOWA Electronics manufactures silver powders for such electrodes. Various companies are now engaged in recycling business of converting used cooking oil as an alternative fuel for light oil all over Japan. DOWA founded Bio Diesel Okayama Co., Ltd. in Okayama Prefecture aimed at promoting this kind of business. DOWA's light oil from used cooking oil is used for garbage trucks in Okayama City.
We have also been engaged in a business in Japan to collect and destroy CFC, which have high global warming potential. Also, in April 2010, we started operation of our facility to collect and destroy methane in the Philippines. These are only a few examples of our steady efforts toward establishing a low carbon society.
Our Contributions through Resource Recycling
While electronics and automobiles are indispensable in modern society, due to price rises and monopolization of resources, supply of metal resources necessary to manufacture such products on a stable basis is a pressing issue. DOWA believes that promoting recycling of metal resources is our most important mission. Kosaka Smelting and Refining Co., Ltd. in Akita Prefecture is leading the DOWA group in environmental recycling and metal refining activities.
Meltec collects valuable metals such as gold and copper from ash by melting waste at the temperature of 1,800 degrees C, and also utilizes other compounds from ash as artificial aggregates for road construction.
Resource recycling business focusing on environmental recycling and metal refining, the core business of DOWA, is a good example of our social contributions, and we continue to improve our efforts in this direction.
Our Efforts Abroad and Our Socially Contributing Activities in Japan
As emerging countries such as China and other countries in South East Asia are growing dynamically, DOWA is committed to actively deploying business operations in Asia. In conjunction with the development of legal systems for recycling of home electrical appliances and electronics in China, we will start our metal recycling business in Tianjin in addition to Suzhou. We are also considering metal recycling operations in other areas of China to help improve resource recycling.
On the other hand, we cannot just go to other countries to do business alone. The important thing is that we build relationships and trust with communities in which we conduct business, respecting their unique culture and value and live together. MAEH has been widely engaged in waste disposal business in Thailand and Indonesia and contributing to communities through various programs. MAEH also offer support for medical and public sanitation activities closely related to communities through these programs, in addition to environmental education, improving education and sports activities.
In Japan, we are continuously promoting activities to contribute to society focusing on areas in which we conduct business. In Akita Prefecture, we have planted approximately 18,000 saplings together with the people of the community on the land where we used to operate mines. We not only conduct surveys on biodiversity to restore the former mining site to green forests, but also promote activities to restore it to a place where all living creatures can benefit. More than 3,000 volunteers participated in our planting of cherry trees around Kojima Lake in Okayama Prefecture.
The DOWA Cup Ski Festival near the Lake Towada is celebrating the 20th anniversary this year, and one of the elementary school children who participated in the festival was selected to be an Olympic skier. We are looking forward to seeing more of the young participants in our festival becoming world-class skiers.
We strive to resolve problems in the environment through our main businesses, and we promote activities to contribute to society as a whole, complying with the universal rules of UN Global Compact Guidelines on Communication on Progress in which we announced our participation last year.Value Created from Diversity
Concepts of "diversity" and "inclusion" are rapidly pervading everyone's thinking. We have several core businesses and we are aggressively expanding into other countries. We believe leveraging diversified human resources in our workplaces is the source of energy of all our organizations.
DOWA encourages ambitious employees to take on the challenge a wide range of business activities. As DOWA started as a mining company, the number of female employees is still small. However, as we have put more efforts on environmental and recycling businesses, the number of female employees is increasing steadily. They have joined our company to be involved in environmental fields through their work, and they are actually playing an important role in those fields. We always welcome those people who are interested in our line of business to join us.
This report is intended to inform people of our efforts as well as to provide an opportunity for our employees to review their individual activities. We welcome your suggestions and comments in order to continue to be a company preferred by people.
