HP KEEP 210M. INK CARTRIDGES OUT OF LANDFILLS

[Anonymous]

HP KEEP 210M. INK CARTRIDGES OUT OF LANDFILLS

Mass production might have made our lives easier, but the explosion of products bought, sold and disposed of has had an adverse impact on the environment. As Annukka Dickens, HP’s head of environmental management, Asia Pacific and Japan, says, "HP now manufactures 3.5 products every second. But we realize bigger does not always mean better."

This has spurred HP to search for ecologically viable solutions in ink cartridge production . One result of that is what it calls ‘closed-loop’ ink cartridge recycling thus reducing environmental damage.

It has been collaborating with the Lavergne Group, which takes undervalued scrap, returned expired goods, or damaged products into its manufacturing process and produces a resin robust enough to be moulded back into the original end product, or upcycled into a value added product. Last month it extended the tie-up to Lavergne’s new facility in the picturesque Vietnamese coastal town of Da Nang.

Recycling process
The significant stage in the recycling process is the separation of plastics, and recovering recyclable plastic. Of the two main types of plastics, thermoset cannot be recycled, while thermoplastic – which consists of high density polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate (commonly called PET), etc – can be.

Since PET can be recycled, it’s separated, recovered and shredded. It is mixed with additives (to ensure good quality) to create ‘recycled PET’ (RPET), which is used in cartridges. The process is called ‘closed-loop’ because use of recycled plastic in original inkjet cartridges closes the loop.

Most mineral water bottles are made of PET, but only 20% of the 500 billion PET bottles produced annually is recycled. HP uses 18 million kg of bottle flake in the RPET process, thus keeping the equivalent of 1.3 billion bottles out of landfills.

Extension of technology
The first cartridge using RPET process rolled out in 2005 and since then, till July 2011, HP has produced more than 1 billion cartridges using this technology. In 2009, HP extended the recycling process to plastics containing polypropylene, and since then 20 million cartridges have been made using polypropylene.

Last year, HP and Lavergne collaborated to develop a machine that more effectively separates plastic, foam, ink and metal components from the returned cartridges, and recovers a higher percentage of re-usable materials.

Looking ahead
The new Vietnam facility will help reduce carbon footprint by being closer to HP’s manufacturing sites and local sources of recycled material. Dean Miller, manager for supplies recycling solutions in HP, says the new facility will reduce the business’s carbon footprint by 22%, fossil fuel consumption by 50% and water consumption by 67%.

HP is aiming to improve its recycling process. Now only the plastic component of the ink cartridge is recycled, but the hope is that further research would yield possibilities of recycling the foam and other parts of the product.

Eco cartridge facts
70% of HP ink cartridge is made from recycled material Recycled plastic in cartridges need 62% less fossil fuel to manufacture, transport and recycle, compared to virgin plastic. Recycling has kept 1.3 billion plastic bottles and 210 million HP ink cartridges out of landfills.

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August 11, 2011 at 11:43 AM