Biodiversity — plants, animals and micro-organisms — all rely on each other, as well as the air, water and soil ecosystems. Both businesses and humans are negatively affected by biodiversity loss, and the risks of jeopardizing the health of our critical ecosystems are great.

At Ricoh, we support a sustainable society. This includes not only reducing our environmental impact, but working to conserve biodiversity and enhance ecosystems. We believe these activities will not only heal the present environment, but set the stage for future repair and recovery.

Photo of a bee resting on a white flower.

Conserve biodiversity and enhance ecosystems

The following activities highlight Ricoh's commitment to supporting a sustainable society.

Pollinator garden

Protecting pollinators is one of the important aspects of biodiversity conservation. Native pollinators (like bees) help plants bear fruit — which provides food to other wildlife — and they increase the health of local ecosystems.

Thanks to WHC's support and our employee volunteers, our corporate land in West Caldwell, New Jersey, is home to a pollinator garden. The garden was created in the fall of 2013 and provides a positive impact on local wildlife and raises the awareness of biodiversity conservation for our employees nationwide. Additionally, the varieties of native flowers — such as milkweed, eastern columbine, Joe Pye weed, black-eyed Susan and purple bergamot — create different, vibrant colors throughout the spring until the end of fall.

Window decals to prevent bird strikes

Ricoh is in a unique position to raise awareness about bird strike prevention. With our commitment to supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Ricoh offers a solution through partnerships with concerned printer users, sustainability education and protection of life on land.

View our bird strike prevention project

Infovisual of bird decals on office window

Marine wildlife conservation

Removing debris from shorelines is not simply a matter of clean-up, but also a critical conservation effort for marine wildlife. We encourage our employees to donate time and energy to these activities; current sites include Sandy Hook, New Jersey; Corpus Christi, Texas and Miami, Florida; as well as numerous sites across Canada, including Calgary, Ontario, Toronto and Québec City.

Forest ecosystem conservation and sustainable practices

Through a partnership with BirdLife International Tokyo, we started a three-year forest ecosystem conservation project in Mexico in Fall 2015. The selected areas represent an important habitat for many endangered species, including migratory birds. These efforts to conserve the mangrove forests are expected to spur the recovery of the local wetland system. In addition, these efforts mitigate the damage caused by natural disasters and improve the livelihood of local residents, who can use the restored mangroves in a sustainable manner.

Think and act globally and locally

To coincide with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Environment Day, we initiated Ricoh Global Eco Action Day in 2005. On June 5 every year, all members of the Ricoh Group worldwide are encouraged to think about and take environmental actions, wear green to show their commitment, and share eco-mindfulness with a larger audience. Additionally, we turn off our billboards and signage — except for our solar- and wind-powered ones — for the day.

Some of the local actions taken by Ricoh employees include:

Cleaning up parks and shorelines.
Planting trees and native plants.
Hosting learning programs on environmental sustainability.

To further underscore the importance of sustainability, we work with partners from government and non-government organizations, as well as our stakeholders, to achieve shared goals.

We hope we inspire you to do more, too.

Ricoh supports America Recycles Day

Every year on November 15, we help to raise awareness of responsible recycling nationwide by supporting America Recycles Day. As a part of our efforts, we host an electronics recycling event to practice and support "Zero Waste to Landfill" efforts.

Ricoh Sustainable Development Award Program

With our corporate social responsibility, we believe in creating harmony between business and the environment — and today's younger generations play a key role. Through the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the world's largest international pre-college science competition, we award scholarships to students who develop innovative and practical solutions to tackle environmental issues. Since 2005, we've awarded more than $420,000 in scholarships.

This year's award went to Veenadhari Kollipara, a student at Interlake High School in Bellevue, Washington, for her development of a drone-powered, precision agriculture solution designed to reduce global food insecurity. We are proud to support these bright young minds as they shape the future.

Biodiversity and Environmental CSR

Respecting and cherishing all living species on our planet.