SUSTAINABLE INK
Put it down on paper As more businesses look to be sustainable, printing is coming under the microscope, with customers wanting more sustainable ink solutions – whether that be with cartridges and their re-use or disposal or packages that use less ink than standard solutions.
Sustainability is no longer something businesses can pay lip service to – words must be backed up with actions. Increasingly, tenders and contracts have stipulations in them about sustainability and what is being done towards those goals. It means that businesses are looking at all aspects of the business to find ways to be more sustainable, including printer facilities. While manufacturers are producing printers that use less energy and print more efficiently, there are also moves to make the ink used in them more sustainable too. Janis Kemers, VP print and supplies at TD SYNNEX Europe, notes that manufacturers are making ink tanks and cartridges more environmentally friendly or easier to reuse. “Manufacturers are bringing out new small- and medium-sized business-focused product lines and are accelerating their adoption of refillable ink tank printers in Europe,” he says. “They are working on refillable ink tank printers that can print more pages from one ink bottle than from traditional ink cartridges, leading to less ongoing plastic waste. They are also reducing electronic waste as these ink bottles do not have internal chips and electronics, alongside lowering the frequency of ink cartridge disposal. In addition, CO2 emissions are reduced as now there is almost
no need to ship ink bottles. “Manufacturers and resellers are
continuously improving sustainability – we at TD SYNNEX are working with organisations on ink that lasts longer, which can print more pages per cartridge, reducing the number of cartridges used.” Customer driven This focus on sustainable ink and ink cartridge solutions is being driven by customers, and will continue to be, he adds. “More companies are looking toward environmentally friendly measures,” he says. “Our own observations are that demand for refillable ink tank printers – which provide less electronic waste and low CO2 emissions – is about 50% higher than normal on regular printers. We’re seeing the trend accelerating particularly in the small and medium business as well as the enterprise space, where refillable printer share is still small.” Printer manufacturers such as HP have made strides in the sustainability of their ink products in recent years in response to this. For instance, HP has been making its ink cartridges and toner cartridges from recycled plastic and recovered material for some years, and in that time has saved thousands of barrels of oil and reduced the carbon footprint
Janis Kemers VP print and supplies
uk.tdsynnex.com
They are working on refillable ink tank printers that can print more pages from one ink bottle than from traditional ink cartridges, leading to less ongoing plastic waste. “ ”
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