PRINTER SUSTAINABILITY
Every little helps Sustainability has risen up the corporate agenda in recent years, with all aspects of a business charged with reducing their environmental impact. Print is part of this, although often strategies have involved reducing paper consumption, but there is much more than can be done to improve sustainability and resellers have a crucial role helping businesses to achieve this.
The recent COP28 summit of world leaders in Dubai put environmental issues front and centre in world news once again, as a historic agreement was struck to commit to move away from the use of fossil fuels in the future. But while global leaders were talking about what nations can do to cut their environmental impact and ensure global temperature increase is limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels – currently, the Earth is already about 1.1°C warmer than it was in the late 1800s, and emissions continue to rise – there is much that businesses can do on a smaller scale. Add into this the UN’s 2030 targets for trying to achieve net zero carbon emissions, and there is plenty that can be done, including the print industry – manufacturers and resellers – as well as end users now and in the future to become more sustainable. Significant role “As we edge nearer to the UN 2030 targets for greenhouse gas emissions, sustainability
is likely to be a primary focus for many businesses across the board,” says Arjan Paulussen, managing director, Western Europe & English Speaking Africa at Lexmark. “Here, print manufacturers can play a significant role in reaching sustainability targets, not only by reducing energy consumption and paper waste but also through the entire print supply chain, including manufacturing and procurement processes.” Arjan adds that to ensure true print sustainability, devices need to be designed with sustainability at front of mind. “Intentionally engineering devices to last longer and maintain quality of function over many years, not only ensures less waste to landfill but also provides the value businesses are looking for from their office hardware investments,” he says. Peter Dresser, product marketing manager: ECOSYS at Kyocera agrees that sustainability is increasingly important for businesses, especially when it comes to the print fleet. “All end users are interested in underpinning their own green agendas and look to their suppliers to do the same,” he says. “Kyocera understands this, as a company that is serious about its corporate social responsibilities, we work hard to keep the cost and environmental impact of printing to a minimum. As such, Kyocera’s devices incorporate long life components, recycled plastics and market leading initiatives such as carbon neutral devices.” Recycle and remanufacture Arjan adds that one way to increase the sustainability of printers is for more recycling and remanufacturing of products in the market. “While many in the print industry have already adopted recycling programmes and incorporated the use of post-consumer recycled materials (PCR) into manufacturing processes, hardware remanufacturing and refurbishment initiatives are still not as widespread,” he says.
Lexmark sustainability- highlights
EcoVadis Platinum in 2022 and 2023 Top 1%
An industry leader with 40%
Lexmark is committed to 100%
reclaimed plastics in Lexmark- branded devices
renewable energy
of 100,000+ assessed companies
Lexmark's LCCP reused
carbon neutral by 2035 Committed to becoming fully
or recycled 120M+ cartridges
since 1991
Perfect Corporate Quality Index Score since
printing and testing paper at Lexmark offset through All office
of the returned cartridges Lexmark LCCP reuses or recycles 100%
2005
Lexmark devices are designed for durability &
Reduced water consumption by 75%
global workforce trained in human rights 98%
long life
since 2005
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