Environmental Education Environmental Education

Basic stance

To advance environment conservation initiatives, it is essential for each and every employee to always remain aware that environmental issues are actual, immediate problems and consider what they can and should do in their business and home life, and that this awareness translates to action. Based on this stance, the Advantest Group conducts environmental education aimed at fostering an awareness of the environment and more practical approaches to the environment.

List of environmental education programs

• Training for new employees
• Training for new managers
• Environmental internal auditor training
• Training on the safety of chemical substances
• ECOCH activities
• Solicitation of environmental value engineering proposals
• Holding of environmental events for employees and their family members
  (Ecological tours, environmental art and photo contests)
• Environmental lectures
• Local cleanups
• Forest conservation activities

Environmental art and photo contest

During the fiscal 2011 Environmental Month, the Advantest Group organized an environmental art contest and an environmental photo contest for employees and their family members. In this third year of the environmental art contest, 109 entries were received from the family members of employees in Japan and overseas. Works in a myriad of colors were received, including depictions of beautiful nature, cute animals, and posters warning of global warming, all worthy of being honored, making it difficult to select the top award winners. In addition, 143 works were exhibited at the first environmental photo contest, based on the theme of natural landscapes that deserve to be preserved. The strong feelings the contest participants have towards the environment were communicated through the large number of nearly professional-level photos that were exhibited. We plan to raise the environmental awareness of our employees while enjoying environmental-related events in the next year.

Ecological tours

At Advantest Taiwan Inc., 16 employees and family members participated in an environmental education workshop on July 23, 2011 sponsored by the Tzu Chi Foundation at the Tzu Chi Environmental Protection Education Center in Hsinchu. The Tzu Chi Foundation is a humanitarian organization that was founded in 1996 for the purpose of contributing to improvements in fields such as medical service and education. Currently volunteers in 47 countries worldwide and 372 companies in Taiwan and overseas participate in Tzu Chi Foundation activities, and the environmental education offered by the Tzu Chi Environmental Protection Education Center is supported by the cooperation of many volunteers. After learning how to segregate different types of waste, the participants participated in the segregation process of waste PET bottles that would be used as raw materials for blankets by sorting out the PET bottles by color, removing the caps and rings left on the opening of the bottles, and stomping on the bottles to reduce their volume. In this manner the participants learned that waste can be an important resource, and that the segregation of waste is essential to fully utilize this resource. They also found significant value in making social contributions as they watched the way the volunteers worked for free.