Opinion Zero Emissions By JOHN GATHRIGHT	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
ゼロ排出 筆者の友人で溶接業を営む森さんは、この不景気で会社の経営もままならず、家も会社も抵当に入れて意気消沈していた。そんな折、筆者はあるアイデアを思いついた

"Mori-san, you look like you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders! What is the matter?" Mori-san's welding business was about to go under. He had mortgaged his home and business to the hilt, and the economy was getting worse.

Poor Mori-san felt he was doomed. He needed a new business idea, and fast. When I suggested something new and exciting involving zero emissions, Mori-san became angry.

"Zero emissions is a fancy word for recycling. How can I recycle when I'm not producing anything?" Mori-san was wrong. Zero emissions is not the same as recycling. It means to take something that is discarded and think up a new way to make something useful without using lots of energy for recycling.

To our surprise the perfect product was right under his nose. A quick visit to his factory revealed lots of junk propane tanks used in welding, called bombe. They were lying around all over the place. Mori-san had planned to get rid of them, but it cost money to throw them away.

With a little experimenting, we struck a jackpot of ideas. The caps, with some cleaning and welding, plus a coat of paint, made great looking bombe bells. The large containers cut up made great benches, chairs and even mailboxes. With the addition of red paint and wheels, they made, durable wagons.

Not only were the ideas fun, but everyone who saw them liked them. Orders started coming in by the dozens and then the hundreds. Everyone had new ideas and requests.

Soon Mori-san was making bombe wedding bells, bombe light stands — even bombe Christmas trees. Zero emissions was off and running. Mori-san's business was up and on its feet again and making money. And he was having fun.

But the biggest surprise was when The Loft department store in Nagoya placed an order for bombe bells and requested a 3-meter bombe bell Christmas tree and red mailbox for its Christmas display.

Now Mori-san has applied for a patent for the bells and has established supply routes for old bombes from garbage dumps. He is even talking with major beer producers about using their discarded gas bottles. Zero emissions is turning a profit.

The expression zero emissions is not new; the idea has been circulating around Japan for a couple of years now. Actually one of the themes for the 2005 Expo to be held in Seto, Aichi Prefecture, will be zero emissions. But unfortunately, the concept is often described with long, difficult, textbook explanations.

Simply put, zero emissions means looking at waste disposal problems from a creative and innovative perspective. This simple idea can solve certain waste disposal problems, bolster the economy, and can be a lot of fun! Zero emissions is far from zero benefits.

Shukan ST: Nov. 13, 1998

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