The NTT Group uses vast paper resources in the publication of its telephone directories, and large amounts of virgin pulp in particular. For this reason, we continue to strive toward our target of reducing our paper usage to no more than 80% of 1990 levels (84,000 tons) by 2010. Our main activities consist of recycling telephone directories and increasing the ratio of used-paper content in our telephone directories and telegram paper, double-sided back-office printing, and paperless electronic payments.
As a result of these activities, in fiscal 2004 we used 33,000 tons of virgin pulp, achieving our target for five straight years. Our continual efforts to increase the used-paper content of telephone directories and telegram paper have brought us to the technological limit, and double-sided printing and electronic payments have become widespread in each of our companies. Thus, as of end-fiscal 2004 we declared the target met. We will now strive to maintain our current virgin pulp usage levels, and work toward further reductions.
Closed-loop Telephone Directory Recycling
Each year, we publish about 120 million telephone directories. These directories use about 100,000 tons of paper, accounting for about 0.3% of all paper used in Japan. NTT DIRECTORY SERVICES which is consigned of publishing of directories, has built a closed-loop recycling system that reuses old telephone directories in the paper of new ones. The system was launched in April 2001. Customers have been receiving telephone directories produced in this way since the September 2001 edition. In fiscal 2004, we worked to expand our collection ratio of old telephone directories to serve as the material for new ones, collecting about 64% in collection ratio, about 50,000 tons in total. The recycled-paper content of our directories reached about 67%.
 
Reducing Paper Consumption through Internet Billing Services
NTT East, NTT West, NTT Communications, and NTT DoCoMo offer Internet billing services for customers paying their phone bills by bank transfer. The server allows customers to view their phone bill invoices and other information via an Internet Web site, via email, mobile phones, and the like, and have them sent electronically as well. When customers use this service, we are also able to reduce the paper needed to create phone bills.
In fiscal 2004, the billing services had a total of about 3.044 million users across the NTT Group, enabling us to use about 560.1 tons fewer paper resources per year (equivalent to 140 million sheets of A4-sized paper) compared to our old method.
Higher Ratio of Recycled Paper in Telegram Paper, Invoices, and Other Documents
 Winnie the Pooh Telegram
The NTT Group has been making every effort to reduce consumption of a variety of paper resources and virgin pulp. For example, NTT East and NTT West are working together with card makers to encourage the use of higher proportions of used paper in the paper portions of telegram cards. When new products are developed or existing cards redesigned, the group works to increase the recycled-paper content. These and other efforts have succeeded in achieving greater than 70% recycled-paper content.
Since 1998, the NTT Group has also been successively launching sales of new toy telegrams using materials other than paper, such as a "Hello Kitty Telegram" and a "Winnie the Pooh Telegram." Until now, telegrams have had an image of simple message paper, but innovative ways to encourage continued use as a memento after the telegram is received are benefiting the environment at a holistic level.
There are also efforts to increase the recycled-paper content of invoices and the envelopes they are sent in, reducing consumption of virgin pulp. For example, in fiscal 2004, NTT East and NTT West raised the recycled paper content of their invoices and prior notifications to 50%, and that of their envelopes to 70%. The companies are innovating in other ways as well, including combining the entire invoice statement into a single sheet of paper.
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