As we're sure you are all aware, over the past three years there has been an alarming rise in rhino poaching in our country due to the outrageous demand for the sought after and precious rhino horn. The fact is, something has to be done, so we are supporting the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) African Rhino Programme as a company who wants to make a noticeable difference.

Quite simply, we will be donating R100 on your behalf for every Konica Minolta bizhub sold within our current financial year to the WWF. These funds will be used by the WWF to assist in paying for emergency veterinary treatments for injured rhinos, improving monitoring of rhino populations and increasing rhino range so that new populations can breed. Together, we can stop the criminal elements that are plundering our national heritage and our collective global asset in order to keep Africa's iconic rhino alive.

Konica Minolta bizhub C360 series MFPs utilise separate developer and drum units for longer product life and better durability. By providing long-life consumables - from production, assembly, transport, disposal and recycling - we have managed to reduce the total amount of CO2 emitted over the product's lifecycle.

In addition, the adoption of smaller packaging boxes and use of easy-to-recycle separable blow bottles for our toner bottles are just some of the many ways we promote resource conservation.

The first step in minimising CO2 emissions is reducing power consumption. Konica Minolta's bizhub MFPs use Simitri high definition (HD) polymerized toners for low temperature fixing, and are equipped with an advanced sleep mode and energy-saving technologies to significantly minimise energy consumption in the office.

As a result, the bizhub C452, for example, offers extremely low TEC values with approximately 59% reduced power consumption over its predecessor (C450). bizhub C360's TEC values are approximately 64% less than its predecessor (C352) and easily surpasses surpasses the International Energy Star's new standards. Through such achievements, these bizhubs provide significant reductions in CO2 emissions.

In December 2008, Konica Minolta signed our support for the "Global Compact", committing to the future of the global environment. The UN "Global Compact" is a strategic policy initiative proposed by the United Nations and designed to align companies around the world with "ten universally accepted principles" in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment, and anti-corruption.

To further realise our goal of Eco Vision 2050, Konica Minolta has introduced the Green Factory Certification System, a new method to comprehensively evaluate the impact on the environment from the production point of view.

This system certifies a production base as a Green Factory if it passes evaluation standards in the fields of global warming, supporting a recycling society, and reducing the risk of chemical substances