Canon U.S.A. has been recognized with the 2005 WasteWise Large Business Partner of the Year Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its comprehensive waste reduction program. It is the fourth consecutive time and fifth time in the last six years that the company has received a WasteWise achievement award.

WasteWise is a voluntary partnership program that provides guidance and recognition to more than 1,300 participating organizations (corporate, government, nonprofit, and education) working to find practical methods to reduce municipal solid waste and improve financial performance. In presenting the award to Canon U.S.A., EPA credited the company with several key accomplishments in reducing waste, including:

• Canon's worldwide toner cartridge collection and recycling program for printers and copiers that was established in 1990. The creation of a global recycling network under which the amount of returned cartridges grows each year while attaining 100% recovery and zero landfill waste by reusing parts, recycling materials and utilizing energy recovery. Canon promotes recycling among customers and has recovered more than 127,000 tons of cartridges.
  
  
• Canon refurbished, remanufactured, resold, or used internally more than 230,000 various products for during 2004.
  
  
• Canon proactively encourages employees to use email and duplex copying to reduce office paper waste, and has developed a system to collect discarded paper, computer media and other waste that can be recycled.
  
  
• Canon extended its waste reduction reach to employee cafeterias, instituting an incentive program that offers employees discounts on beverages if they use their personal
  mugs rather than disposable cups.

The WasteWise awards will be presented during the program's annual conference Oct. 24-25. More information about the program is available online.