New York, NY -- We have talked extensively in Castle Ink posts about the importance of recycling printer cartridges, being green, etc. What we haven’t talked about is the actual process the cartridges go through after they leave your house or office…until now. According to the blog The Daily Green, Hewlett-Packard is a very responsible recycler, choosing to dismantle each cartridge rather than simply shredding it.
Teaming up with a French-Canadian factory. HP has begun this dismantling process which does not result in a contaminated mix of plastic, metal, and paper as shredding does. The dismantling actually yields 50% more plastic which is much better for the environment. The current process is the result of five years of labor and brainstorming that has enabled HP to have a closed-loop product. The closed-loop process ensures that these cartridges are born again as new cartridges. Since 2005, HP has managed to create upwards of 500 million printer-ready cartridges.
The process itself is longer than simply crushing the cartridges, but better for everyone involved. The dismantler itself can about 15 cartridges per minute, whereas a shredder will do thousands over the course of an hour. Basically, the label is scraped off, the top is cut away, and then everything inside is removed. Once the cartridge is dismantled, the remaining plastic is heaved into a hopper. That plastic is then shredded and mixed with between 75% and 80% of the waste from plastic bottles and combined with chemical additives to add strength and pliability and what is left is essentially brand new plastic.
Initially the process was only performed on PET plastic, but over the last year or so, HP has also begun to work with polypropylene as well, and two million of those cartridges have been created.
After taking some criticism with regards to the amount of packaging for a cartridge, HP has made strides there as well. While the blogger points out that there is no U.S. law which calls for the reduction, Green Dot laws in both Europe and Asia are good indications that change is needed. The Green Dot laws currently make each manufacturer responsible for their own packing materials which has had a profound impact on what they use to send products out nowadays.
While many in business would not welcome this infringement on a national level, on March 25 of this year Maine became the first state to “enact an extended producer responsibility (EPR) law.” As many as 19 states have already passed legislation that requires companies to take back all electronic equipment. Obviously, a national mandate would help to consolidate efforts on the part of individual states, but that is a tough win for even the most powerful servants of the people in public government.
