Leading into Earth Day on April 22, HP today introduced a series of new environmental initiatives, including an expanded return and recycling program with Office Depot, as well as news that the Forest Stewardship Council has certified its HP Everyday Paper line. The company today also reported unprecedented results in relation to its long-running environmental programs.
HP is working in collaboration with International Paper Company (IPC) to use fibre from responsibly managed forests. The resulting FSC certification of the HP Everyday Office Papers is specifically for North America, but this initiative, which applies to the complete produce line, joins HP’s existing FSC-certified portfolio in Latin America.
The company reports that more than 40 percent of its total worldwide office-paper tonnage is now FSC-certified and/or contains at least 30 percent post-consumer waste. HP announced a goal to have 50 percent or more of HP-branded paper FSC-certified, or have at least 30 percent post-consumer waste content, by the end of 2015.
“Our customers want printing solutions that offer quality and reliability, with proven environmental performance,” stated Annukka Dickens, Director of HP’s Americas Environmental Leadership Team.
HP was one of the world’s first large-scale technology companies to focus environmental efforts around the life cycle of products, which today is best illustrated through the closed-loop plastics recycling process of the company’s long-running cartridge return and recycling program, called HP Planet Partners.
HP Planet Partners today is offered in 56 countries and territories, allowing customers to return used HP cartridges by visiting www.hp.com/recycle or HP Authorized Retail Collection locations. The company reports that its customers worldwide have now recycled more than half a billion HP ink and LaserJet toner cartridges through the HP Planet Partners program.
Office Depot was announced today as the newest retailer to join HP’s recycling efforts, which also includes players like Office Max, Staples and Walmart. As a result, HP’s cartridge collection network is anticipated to include more than 9,000 retail outlets worldwide. The company stated that it plans to recycle 3.5 billion pounds of electronic products and supplies by the end of 2015.
Office Depot, in its inaugural year of supporting HP’s Planet Partners, will offer HP ink recycling in more than 1,100 stores across the United States. Staples has supported HP recycling efforts for more than five years and expanded in 2012 to include hardware recycling across North America. Together, HP and Staples have collected more than 40 million pounds of ink and toner cartridges and hardware for recycling. Walmart brings the largest network of retail drop-off locations with more than 3,500 stores.
HP’s closed-loop plastics recycling process uses plastic from recycled Original HP ink and toner cartridges and other post-consumer sources to create new Original HP cartridges. To date, HP reports that it has used more than 118 million pounds of recycled content, which the company explains to have kept 280 million cartridges and 2 billion post-consumer plastic bottles out of landfills.
When compared to virgin plastic, the recycled plastic used in HP ink cartridges produced in 2010 and beyond, according to HP, has up to an estimated 33 percent smaller carbon footprint than virgin plastic in Original HP ink cartridges – even when accounting for the impact associated with collecting, transporting and processing used cartridges and plastic bottles. This plastic, according to HP’s reporting, is estimated to reduce total water used by up to 89 percent.
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