SUSTAINABLE CONSUMABLES
Conscientious consumption Sustainability is a priority for many businesses, and they are looking to all aspects of their operations to find ways to cut the impact on the environment, including printing and the consumables they use – and there are environmental and cost savings to be found.
There is a shift around the world currently, with more businesses waking up to the potential financial and business benefits of moving to a low-emissions future. The Deloitte 2024 CxO Sustainability Report shows signs of a shift in business climate action with 85% of C-suite executives increasing their sustainability investments in 2024, up from 75% last year. With this increasing focus on sustainability, every aspect of a business is under scrutiny to find environmental savings, including the printer fleet and the consumables they use. “Sustainability is increasingly front-of mind for channel partners as they respond to the changing attitudes and expectations of customers,” says Stuart Miller, partner channel director at Canon UK & Ireland. “Switching to sustainable consumables is one way that businesses can improve their proposition without having to make any major changes to their workflow. At Canon, we work alongside more than 120 partners to deliver sustainable alternatives to customers.” Debbie Gualtieri, director of product safety & sustainability at Xerox, adds that it is strongly anticipated that global demand for more sustainable cartridges will rise as additional eco-design laws emerge. “Some jurisdictions, such as Italy, are already implementing regulations around the use of sustainable consumables and in these instances, we see a corresponding rise in demand for remanufactured cartridges,” she says.
Greater sustainability There are many ways in which consumables are becoming more sustainable, with manufacturers taking various approaches to cut the environmental impact of their products. For instance, Debbie says manufacturers
Stuart Miller, partner channel director
canon.co.uk
are using reclaimed plastic and post- consumer materials design criteria,
conserving the use of new materials. “This is enabled by global collection and recycling processes, with convenient options for customers to return their empty cartridges,” she adds. “Specific Xerox toner cartridges contain as much as 39% reclaimed plastic in new models and, on average, 90% reuse of parts by weight in remanufactured cartridges.” Stuart adds that to reduce product lifecycle emissions year on year, manufacturers should be focused on making consumables 100% recyclable or reusable and eliminating harmful materials such as single-use plastics from packaging. “Canon’s ink cartridge recycling programme provides customers with a free and responsible way to recycle empty Canon cartridges,” he says. “Every returned cartridge is reused or recycled, either as a component in a new cartridge, as a base material in other industries, or as a substitute for fossil fuels.” He adds that a consumable that is often overlooked is printer paper. “But due to the sheer volume being used, a business’s paper choice can have a significant impact on their sustainability performance,” he says.
Sustainability is increasingly front-of mind for channel partners as they respond to the changing attitudes and expectations of customers. “ ”
Deloitte 2024 CxO Sustainability Report Signs of a shift in business climate action
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September 2024
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