RECYCLING PICKS UP SAVINGS

[Anonymous]

Recycling picks up savings
Office supply buyers work with suppliers on options from products to services.
Most
companies have paper- and can-recycling bins scattered throughout the
building. And there’s good reason: Recycling helps the environment and
saves money.
Nothing new about that. But what is new, today, is that
office-product suppliers and printer manufacturers have programs to
make recycling easy and some will even pay to pick up used ink
cartridges. They use the recycled cartridges to remanufacture new
cartridges with the same quality as the originals. Some office
suppliers sell the remanufactured cartridges for 30% less than original
[OEM]ones.
Recycling ink cartridges and paper saves potentially
millions of pounds of landfill waste. Recycled paper saves the energy
and water used to make virgin paper.
Office product suppliers like
OfficeMax and Staples are among a few who have incentives to make it
easy for companies to recycle ink cartridges. According to Harry
Dochelli, executive vice president of operations for OfficeMax, the
company’s cartridge return program picks up cartridges directly from a
drop-off box located in the customer’s building. It also offers its
customers a financial incentive for recycling used cartridges.
OfficeMax sells remanufactured cartridges made from the recycled
cartridges for 30% less than the OEM brand.
Mark Buckley, vice
president of environmental affairs for Staples, says the company has
diverted millions of ink jet toner cartridges from landfills. Staples
remanufactures cartridges and makes sure they meet the specifications
of the original cartridge. “We sell the remanufactured cartridges for
20% less than the OEM cartridge, on average,” he says. “And they
perform just as well.”
About 90% of Xerox products are designed with
remanufacturing in mind. There’s no difference in the quality of the
new vs. the recycled, says Pam Will, consumables strategy manager for
Xerox supplies group. As part of its recycling process, Xerox picks up
all its used equipment from customers at no fee. She says all savings
from remanufacturing and recycled content goes directly to its
customers. Xerox factors in what it saves from using a recycled
component into the cost of the remanufactured item. “We prevented 142
million pounds of materials from going into landfills, and saved 1.4
million megawatt hours,” from using recycled products, says Will.
Solid ink technology
In
fact, Xerox’s solid ink technology doesn’t use a cartridge. Its green
design uses resin-based solid ink sticks. When ink runs out, there is
nothing left to throw away.
The company says it generates 95% less
waste during use than a typical color laser product. For every 100,000
printed pages, a solid-ink printer generates five pounds of landfill
waste, compared to about 157 pounds for a typical color laser printer.
Because
solid ink prints the same on any paper, recycled paper can be used for
all printing. Xerox is actively working to extend solid ink technology
in other markets, and will continue to introduce solid ink products.
Track progress
Staples
developed environmental-attribute recording to show customers the
environmental impact of their purchases. For instance, it provides
business customers with information on how many trees they saved with
certain purchases.
OfficeMax customers can build an order template
for their frequently ordered products. When they begin ordering, the
system points them in the direction of recycled products.

[Author]

December 7, 2005 at 10:42 AM