17 October 2008

 

Epson, the leading manufacturer of printers, LCD projectors and other imaging products, is extending its Collect&Recycle initiative in accordance with its environmental vision goals. By adding a postal return programme for inkjet printer cartridges Epson now offers recycling opportunities for all of its printer ranges and all types of customers; ranging from large business to home users. The programme has been live in Western Europe since October, 2008. It aims to provide home users and small businesses with an easy, free solution to properly dispose of their empty inkjet cartridges.

The Epson Collect&Recycle initiative has been running in Europe since February 2006 and currently forms an important part of the company’s Environmental Vision 2050. Until now the initiative has focused on laser printer cartridges, however, both today’s announcement and a similar expansion of the service in September to include Large Format Printer cartridges are testament to the momentum that the recycling scheme has gathered.

100% of the cartridges collected through the scheme are recycled: their plastic components are re-used in manufacturing and construction as raw materials, while metal parts are smelted and re-used in other industrial applications.

Eelco Smit, Epson’s Environmental Affairs Manager said “We are working hard to reduce the environmental impact of all of our products and operations. A key element of this is a reduction in the number of ink cartridges that end up in landfills. Extending our free, convenient and high-quality collection and recycling programme to inkjet printers is a big step forward, and we know our customers are ready for this.”

Epson is again working with Cycleon, a pan-european reverse logistics provider and partner since 2007, to provide consumers with a postal return option for their empty inkjet cartridges. Having registered online (epson.com/recycle) for the ‘Consumer inkjet Collect&Recycle programme,’ customers can request a return kit, containing an instruction leaflet and pre-paid leakproof envelopes. Customers with high volumes of empty inkjet cartridges can continue to make use of the Epson Express Centres throughout Europe where they can deposit the cartridges in collection boxes.

The new postal scheme will specifically target home users and small businesses by providing them with the option to return single inkjet cartridges. It is now available in most Western and Northern European countries and further plans are being put in place to extend the service to other European countries.