Another tick in Ricoh's environmental kudos book is its award winning Quick Start up (QSU) technology, which enables machines to operate within 10 seconds from the energy saving mode. In 2003, this feature was estimated to have averted 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Spokesperson for Canon Australia, Andrew Giles said, as part of Canon's efforts towards sustainability, that: "Canon thoroughly educates employees to follow the principle of putting public order and morals ahead of profit. We have instituted an independent set of environmental assurance rules as the basis for its environmental risk management and risk communication activities," he said.

Canon also offers practical environmental courses that aim to teach employees the importance of environmental conservation and encourages them to integrate that thinking into their daily lives.

"We aim to be environmentally conscious in every one of our products by using LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) methods to analyze the environmental impact of our products. A numerical understanding of the burden helps us design products with progressively higher energy and resource efficiency without the use of hazardous substances," he said.

Canon and its main subsidiaries and affiliates invested A$185.2 million in environmental protection activities in 2004.