EPSON
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Printing and printers are part of that, and Epson, along with other manufacturers, is working hard for its customers to this end. “If you look back 20 years, for example, there wasn’t much of an appetite for sustainability, it was an added extra but never a selling point,” says Taran Rai, corporate sustainability manager at Epson. “But things have changed. People are more clued up about the climate, about legislation coming in, and the desire to cut energy bills.” With recent rises in energy costs, anything that can use less power is welcomed by businesses. “Energy consumption is a thing that you can control,” says Taran. “It’s an easy win too if you’re looking at decarbonisation. For a lot of businesses that are looking to change their printer fleet how much they could save on their energy bill because of changing to something like inkjet printing is really impactful. We’ve added a cost model to help customers understand how much money they could save by switching inkjet printing, for example. “Sustainability has really come to the forefront, but what’s helped push it along is the economic side of things. People sometimes have this preconception that when it comes to sustainable products, there’s a premium added to them. But with something like this, you can see there is a saving because you are reducing energy consumption, therefore saving on your bills as well.”
Inkjet benefits Epson printers can help to reduce energy consumption because they are inkjet rather than laser printers. “When you print off a piece of paper with a laser printer it’s warm to the touch. If you think about it, how hot does that printer have to be to make that piece of paper warm? That heating element means there’s a lot of energy consumption through that, whereas inkjet printing is a crystal-based technology: you run a current through a crystal, that crystal oscillates, and then essentially it ejects ink onto a page. That is where that sustainability really comes in, in that small amount of electricity you have running through those crystals. Also, you don’t have to wait for the heating process to happen with an inkjet printer so its faster.” Taran cites the example of the University of Aberdeen. “They changed their printer fleet to inkjet and made a six- figure saving, which was very important for them,” she says. “There are a lot of benefits to inkjet printing. The money one is often the one customers are drawn towards. When it comes to carbon savings as well, University of Aberdeen was able to save 87.5% of their carbon, too. That’s great for their sustainability manager and makes for a compelling argument.” Refurbish and remanufacture Two other areas that are becoming more important to the sustainability conversation for many businesses are the refurbishment and remanufacturing of devices. Remanufacturing is where a device is broken down then rebuilt with new parts, whereas refurbishment involves replacing old or broken parts and returning the device to a factory-like condition before putting it back into the market. “We’ve established ourselves in the refurbishment market,” says Taran. “Currently, we sell our refurbished Eco- tank printers for consumers on eBay. They’re at a reduced price, but they’ve
Taran Rai corporate sustainability manager
epson.co.uk
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The University of Aberdeen changed their printer fleet to
inkjet and made a six-figure saving, which was very important for them.
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