FCO・OP Consumer Co-operative commended by the national and municipal governments for 2 consecutive years
2021.05.25
In 2019, FCO・OP was awarded the "Regional Environmental Conservation Support Achievement Award" by the Minister of the Environment, and in 2020, also received the Encouragement Award at the 10th Fukuoka City Environmental Action Awards. Among the many initiatives that have been recognized, the "Acid Rain Measurement Activity" and the "Nitrogen Dioxide Measurement Activity" are the most representative.
The "Acid Rain Measurement Activity" and the "Nitrogen Dioxide Measurement Activity" started in 1991 and 1993 respectively. These activities started when the North Kyushu Consumers' co-operative, the predecessor of FCO・OP, started measuring acidity in rains and nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere of North Kyushu City, suffering from air pollution caused by industries.
In these activities, a special simple measurement device is distributed to co-op members and co-op staff to measure acid rain and nitrogen dioxide around their homes.
In FY2019, measurements were taken at about 400 locations in Fukuoka Prefecture, and strong acid rain was observed in 3.3% of them. And 16.1% exceeded the environmental quality standard value of nitrogen dioxide. In FY2020, measurements were taken at about 320 locations. The results of these measurements are published in the FCO・OP newsletter.
*FCO・OP is a consumer co-op with approximately 530,000 members in Fukuoka Prefecture (as of April 2021), operating store and home delivery businesses.
The related JCCU News:
/eng/news/2019/08/fcoop-won-the-regional-environmental-conservation-support-achievement-award.html
