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NEC is committed to corporate social responsibility. That means that NEC is committed to the environment.
The company is aware that the use of petroleum based material like plastics eats up 20% of
the world's oil production.
In Tsukuba, Japan, NEC have set this as their number one challenge. They are researching
new materials ? bioplastic. Plastics made from plants.
They began with a plastic made from corn. As the corn grows, it extracts carbon dioxide
from the air. This plastic is renewable and recyclable. But its properties aren't good
enough for all our everyday uses, in particular for electronic products. It's not heat resistant
and, under pressure, it cracks.
Dr. Masatoshi Iji and his team wanted to discover a super bioplastic that could be made without
using petrochemicals.
Amazingly they found the answer in a remarkable plant called Kenaf.
In order to rely on plant-based materials ? bioplastics - we had to choose and develop
new additives. In this sense, it was extremely difficult.
Kenaf takes 6 months to go from seed to harvest and just one field, such as here at the Nature
Trust, absorbs twice the carbon dioxide compared to the same area of rain forest in the Amazon.
By manipulating the fibers of Kenaf and adding them to basic bioplastic, they discovered
that, not only was it environmentally friendly, but it had other remarkable properties. It
had turned into a super bioplastic.
For example, we were extremely astonished to discover that products mixed with Kenaf
have heat resistance and strength of more than 1.7 times that of normal bioplastics.
The team also developed a new bioplastic with an extraordinary magical property ? shape
memory. Apply heat and force and it can be moulded into any shape - heat it again, and
it returns back to its original form. An added benefit ? it melts at high temperatures,
which means it is also recyclable.
This is a real first! A new intelligent bioplastic. It's the first time that bioplastics have
both functions…It's recyclable and it has shape memory. This is something truly original!
DoCoMo's‘Eco' phone, made from NEC's Kenaf-based plastic, is already on the market. By 2010,
10% of NEC's electronic products will be made from bioplastic. That means a significant
reduction in petroleum depletion. And as bioplastic is also biodegradable, it means a reduction
too in wasteful landfill. Bioplastics is just one area in which NEC is committing resources
in order to develop far reaching solutions for a healthier and safer environment.