We Can’t Leave the Litter Alone! Becoming an Admired Environmental Company by Building a Cleanup Culture Across the Company
Nagai Holdings Co., Ltd. is based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. Its work covers waste collection and transport, staffing services and recycling. Why does a company that deals with town waste every day promote environmental activities with all its employees? In their open office with a lounge and terrace, we asked Ogura from PR and a manager from the Corporate Department about their internal setup, how they use data, and the results.
From left: Ogura, Head of the Sustainability Promotion Office; a manager of the Corporate Department
1. Changing the future through waste
Why is environmental work rooted in your management?
Waste is directly linked to the environment. Over the years, we have grown our business with the times: collecting, transporting and treating waste, running "Recycling Stations" where people can bring cardboard, and staffing services. Today we have about 170 vehicles.
In fact, we valued community-based social contribution even before the word "SDGs" appeared. Our president often says, "We can't trust our work to someone who can't pick up a single piece of litter in front of them." Environmental work is not something special. It is very natural. We also want to grow people who pick up litter as a matter of course when they see it.
2. Every employee builds the culture
What supports your culture of "we can't leave the litter alone"?
Apart from business units, we have four committees, such as environment and safety. Every employee belongs to one. Chairs and vice-chairs volunteer for the role, and members join by choice or at random. As part of the Sustainability Promotion Office, I handle vehicle management and safety, coordinate all the committees, and edit the in-house newsletter, "Sustaina News." I think the culture grows across the company because every employee takes part in committee work apart from their regular job.
3. Turning awareness into action through visualization
Why did you adopt cleanup visualization (*1) with the Pirika App and Pirika for Businesses and Organizations, and Takanome (car version)?
Our president has had complex feelings about waste since childhood and has a very strong interest in environmental problems. That is why we always keep our eyes open and try things no one has done yet. Our vehicles drive on roads every day. We felt that using them to collect litter data efficiently holds great potential for us as an environmental company.
On the Pirika App, when you post your litter picking, you get "thank yous" (*2) and comments from all over Japan. That really makes you happy. People want to act when they are praised. Someone must always collect waste. If no one did, towns would fill with litter. That is why this work is valuable, and our president believes this too. So we added the number of litter-picking posts on the Pirika App to our personnel evaluation system, so it can come up in talks with managers. Employees' activity can be seen at any time on the visualization page. Managers look at regular data reports and encourage staff in ways that lead to action.
*1 Cleanup visualization: a website that shows cleanup records made with the Pirika App
*2 "Thank you": a reaction like a "like" that users can send each other for litter-picking posts on the Pirika App
4. Ideas for keeping it going
This year, besides the evaluation system, we held an in-house contest called the "Pirika Cup Nagai," where people compete on the number of Pirika posts. There is a team category by office and an individual category. When even one more person takes action, the whole company improves. There were surprises too, such as usually quiet employees ranking near the top.
At first, any reason is fine, even the evaluation. Whatever the trigger, people take action. We want them to become people who pick up litter without being told to. It is not about whether you can, but whether you choose to do it yourself. We want our people to grow as people, even in areas not directly linked to their work.
Once a month, the Environmental Management Committee picks a place outside the company and holds a cleanup. Joining is optional, and the place changes each time, so people think, "It's close this time, so I'll go." Once you try it, it is fun. When we cleaned a big park, it was so large that we never reached the BBQ area (laughs). Talk comes up naturally, like "Next time, let's start from over there." If you keep doing it, you start to notice every piece of litter. You just can't help picking it up.
The "Nagai Holdings Eco Style Club" cleanup visualization page (part), scenes from activities, and "Pisuke," a kick scooter made for litter picking
5. Support from outside and hopes for the future
We work on many environmental issues besides cleanup visualization with Pirika and litter surveys with Takanome (car version). Litter picking with the Pirika App is one activity that every employee can join, and we are glad we started it. We have hired new graduates in recent years, and many students now want to work in the environmental field or care about environmental problems. Our efforts seem to reach them. Recently, a university seminar group visited us, and an assembly member contacted us.
We can't leave the litter alone. So we act "now," not "someday." As an environmental company, we truly aim to be in the top 10 dream jobs for children. We also look forward to providing data and proposals to local governments, and we want more people to take action with us.
Organization: Nagai Holdings Co., Ltd. Industry: Environmental services Service: Pirika for Businesses and Organizations, Takanome (car version)