SUSTAINABILITY IN CONSUMABLES
Highlighting remanufactured offerings along with refillable, reusable and dual products will be key to winning future business as consumers become even more aware of the impact their choices have on the environment.”
low environmental impact throughout their entire lifecycle.”
Reseller conversations Initiatives such as this should be part of resellers conversations with customers about consumables. “As consumables such as ink cartridges, paper and hardware more generally become more sustainable over the next few years, resellers should be looking to strengthen their offering and guidance.” Stuart says. “With responsible manufacturers collaborating closely with resellers to help them meet their customers’ sustainability commitments, the print industry as a whole can contribute more to climate action.” Peter adds that resellers should highlight innovation. “Simply over-using the word ‘recycled’ is just not credible anymore – there are many kinds of recycling that are not ‘green’ at all, they simply shift the disposal problem elsewhere,” he says. Future This trend will continue to over the next few years, Peter believes. “The consumer is now demanding real change, and manufacturers have no choice but to up their performance in terms of innovation,” he says. “End users are very wise to ‘greenwashing’ now, and the whole industry must move beyond that.” Chris adds that he believes we are only at the start of a vitally important industry- wide issue. “We will see all these trends continuing and gaining momentum and reseller partners should be highlighting the sustainable and energy-saving features of the product lifecycle and consumables as much as possible,” he says. “Customers are definitely factoring sustainability into their decision-making process now and the more ecologically friendly and energy efficient a printing solution is today, the better.” Julie adds that businesses are continuing to strive towards Net Zero and to enable this, sustainable consumables must grow. “This is more than a trend, it’s a way of life for us all,” she says. “With continued innovations and awareness, sustainable consumables are here to stay.”
Peter Cowan group chief operations officer
Recycling Peter adds that Data Direct has a new recycling programme that will bring a
completely transparent process of taking used products from the UK to a UK reprocessing plant. “This will ultimately deliver new raw materials for other UK manufacturing processes, such as raw plastics to produce street furniture, for example,” he says. “We have also worked with one of our suppliers that has developed biodegradable cartridges and toners and are looking to expand that range. Packaging is becoming much more innovative, avoiding the use of cardboard in favour of sustainable materials, such as seaweed.” Stuart adds that Canon is becoming a circular business. “In which every product and material is designed, created, reused, repaired and recycled to be kept in use for longer and to minimise waste to landfill. This should be a core part of a manufacturer's sustainability goals,” he says. “For example, ink cartridge recycling is something that customers are expecting more and more today. Each element of every returned cartridge should be reused or recycled – be it as a component in a new cartridge, as a base material in other industries, or as a substitute for fossil fuels. Making ink cartridge recycling as easy and accessible as possible for customers will continue to be a key focus area for both manufacturers and resellers in the print industry. “Another consumable that will drive innovation when it comes to sustainability is paper. Canon is the first manufacturer to offer carbon neutral wide format papers, having launched the Red Label Zero and Recycled White Zero last year. These papers, designed to be a game-changer for the architectural, engineering, construction and manufacturing industries, are EU Ecolabel certified, meaning they have guaranteed, independently verified,
data-direct.co.uk
We are in continuous discussions with “
our partners to reduce or
eliminate plastic packaging where possible...
”
Julie Haywood customer and operations support manager
ctswholesale.co.uk
printinthechannel.co.uk
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