CIRCULAR ECONOMY
CONTINUED
Remanufacturing Another aspect of the circular economy that is growing in popularity is remanufacturing of products. This is where the life and value of a printer is prolonged by rebuilding it from individual components – a mix of reused or repaired components and new parts. Sophia says that all hardware vendors are looking at programmes that will provide business customers with remanufactured devices with full warranty cover. “For many for customers, that will make a huge difference,” she says. “We expect to see significant growth in the market for remanufactured products over the coming year. We are already talking to several vendors about bringing their programmes to market and while the initial activity is likely to be focused on laptops, we’d expect other products – including printers and MFPs – to follow soon after.” Wendy adds that remanufacturing is becoming more of a common practice among printer manufacturers. “Remanufactured equipment and supplies give customers an option to choose products with a lower environmental impact that meets the same performance, quality and reliability as new,” she says. “Our internal studies have estimated remanufactured products result in CO2e savings of at least 90% during the raw material and manufacturing stages of the device lifecycle. As much as 1.3 tons of CO2 emissions savings vs. a new build device, the equivalent of 146 gallons of gasoline saved
criteria and product lifecycle impacts.” Nick adds that Epson products are made in Epson facilities, by Epson people, using Epson technology. “This gives us greater control of the product lifecycle from design, concept, and shipping, through to use, re-use and recycling,” he says. “Customers can enjoy Epson’s circular economy practices through product longevity, for example through our extended business printer warranties and parts replacement programme – guaranteeing serviceable life for up to eight years – and heat-free inkjet technology, which offers significant reduction in CO2 emissions, consumables and user- intervention compared with equivalent laser technology. These heat-free benefits are critical to our customers, which is why Epson began construction of a new inkjet printhead production plant in June this year and completed the construction of another inkjet printhead production plant in December last year. “Minimising our manufacturing footprint is also a hidden value that Epson places great effort into. At the beginning of this year, Epson successfully transitioned to 100% renewable electricity across all its group sites worldwide. We’ve taken a step further from this and have also started plans for a new biomass power plant in Japan to provide Epson with self- generated renewable electricity. This will not only reduce the ratio of electricity purchased from external power companies, but also promote the adoption of renewable electricity within our industry.”
Nick Taylor head of sales, office print, UK&I
epson.co.uk
This gives us greater control of the product lifecycle from design, concept, and shipping, through to use, re-use and recycling. “ ”
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