PRINTITRESELLER.UK 43 VOX POP Our groundbreaking move was to launch all of our print devices carbon neutral out of the box. That’s the device itself, its transportation and five years’ worth of genuine consumables Steve Pearce: Our groundbreaking move was to launch all of our print devices carbon neutral out of the box. That’s the device itself, its transportation and five years’ worth of genuine consumables. Therefore, alongside our UK-based toner recycling scheme and our hardware device recycling program, we have developed a market-leading circular proposition for our customers. In fact, to date, we have placed over 5,000 of these devices into the UK. We have also reforested over 14,000 trees in the UK to offset print usage, for scale that’s a native woodland approximately the size of four football pitches, which I am personally incredibly proud to boast. To prolong device life as a greener play, we have also offered extended warranties and actively promote genuine toner usage. Ben Mills: Konica Minolta aims to use more than 90% circulated resources for its products by 2050. These resources are recycled materials and biomaterials. With that goal in mind, the company aims to enable the reuse and recycling of materials as many times as possible to minimise waste and the consumption of natural resources. Currently, our MFPs already use up to 44% and the production printing systems up to 15% recycled materials. Toner bottles use up to 61% recycled materials. As part of our efforts to reduce our own environmental impact, in the UK we offer a consumable recycling programme called ‘A World on Loan’. It provides a simple process to return used Konica Minolta consumables (including toner bottles, cartridges, and imaging units), for recycling, and accompanies our full range of office and production print systems. 100% of the returned materials are recycled and recovered into raw materials for other industrial uses. We also provide documentation to meet our customer recycling targets. Proud of its product reliability, Konica Minolta has avoided the temptation to sacrifice build quality to gain a competitive price advantage. One of the benefits of this reliability is additional life, both in terms of less frequent replacement of machines on customer sites, and also a second user opportunity, as devices are refurbished and returned to the marketplace. As Konica Minolta has a rich heritage in product excellence, customers can select a refurbished device with confidence, knowing they are not only saving money but retaining reliability. Richard Wells: It’s really important to emphasise here the significant reduction in energy and consumables of heat-free inkjet printing compared with laser printing technology, benefits we are helping our partners calculate to the number in our Optimisation Report. Epson has been the pioneer of the inkjet market for decades as demonstrated through the continued investment into new inkjet printhead factories and the extension of our MFP portfolio that now firmly addresses the printing mid-market, momentum the channel can only expect to continue. The circular economy of printing is core to our product development strategy, and in November 2023 we announced new business printer warranties and parts replacement that guarantee the serviceable life of heatfree inkjet devices for up to eight years. Stuart Miller: Becoming a circular business, in which every single product and material is designed, created, reused, repaired, and recycled to be kept in use for longer and to minimise waste to landfill, is at the heart of Canon’s sustainability goals. Our Certified Used (CU) refurbishment scheme is an in-house, integrated programme that refurbishes existing hardware and components, thereby reducing total environmental impact over the long-term and contributing to the circular economy. The process for refurbishing involves anything from running a few simple tests to undertaking a thorough clean-up and rebuild of the product. Unlike secondhand products, refurbished goods are tested to ensure that they perform and function properly. PrintIT Reseller: How are you supporting the circular economy and reducing the carbon cost of acquiring printing devices? Think remanufactured devices and/or those which contain recycled content, consumables recycling/remanufacturing, or keeping products in use for longer with extended warranties etc.? Dave Higgott
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