Even as the number of printed pages continues to decline, developing sustainable business practices never felt more relevant. New technologies are creating a shift towards a business model that is less hardware centric and more software oriented, and are forcing dealers to reconsider how they’ve done business. By embracing new services and technologies such as MPS, Document Management, Managed IT and the Cloud, businesses are able to stay ahead of the curve and offer true solutions and value to their customers. Furthermore, practices such as reusing and recycling help cut down on costs and increase margins, in addition to positioning a company as environmentally conscious. As a result, sustainable practices benefit not only the environment, but ensure the businesses themselves have a future.
We have seen many OEMs introduce innovative products that reduce energy consumption and paper and toner waste. In some cases, OEMs are using recycled plastics. This month at ENX, we delve into the cartridge collection and recycling programs. We speak to remanufacturers and one OEM to get a deeper understanding of our industry’s efforts and practices in one of the key areas of environmental sustainability. We would like to thank the following participants for taking the time to contribute to this roundtable discussion.
- Luke Goldberg, Senior Vice President, MSE Global
- Scott MacKenzie, VP – Sales Operation, Canada, Clover Technologies Group
- James P. Meyers, President, National Copy Cartridge
- Brad Roderick, Executive Vice President, InkCycle, Inc.
- Tom Walter, Director – Aftermarket Sales, Marketing & Operations, Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. (TABS)
- Gary Willert, President/CEO, LMI Solutions
Q 1: Tell us about your cartridge collection and recycling programs. Who are the participants, how easy is it to participate, and what are the benefits participants recognize?
TonerCycle-InkCycle: Collecting and recycling programs have been at the core (no pun intended) of our business since the company was founded in 1992. In the earliest days, cartridges were picked up from the end user, refurbished and then returned to the same end user; a very “closed loop” model. Since then we have clearly evolved and our strategies have had to change as we moved from a company selling direct to the end user, to a company that sells nothing direct and operates exclusively through resale channels. Our current collection programs are tailored to the operational models of our various customers/partners. As examples, we operate collection programs designed to cost-effectively recycle small volumes directly from end users on behalf of our resale partners, all the way to programs where cartridges are collected in retail locations and then shipped in bulk to our recycling center in Lenexa, KS. But collecting the used cartridges is only part of the recycling aspect. Our processes include elimination of landfilling and full compliance with ISO 14001 requirements. TonerCycle/InkCycle has been recognized as an innovative leader in sustainability and recycling practices within the aftermarket and other manufacturing industries.
MSE: Recently we rolled out a comprehensive web-driven cartridge collection program for both toner and ink jet cartridges. We believe this is the easiest, most turnkey dealer core collection program in the business, enabling dealers to quickly set up collection at the end user level via pallet pickup, bin collection, or tag programs. Dealers who collect and aggregate their own cores can also schedule pallet pickups for themselves. There is no need for either the dealer or end user to sort or grade — just schedule the pick up and let MSE do the rest. The website at https://partner.mse.com allows the dealer to login to our partner portal and directly print tags or order bins to be drop shipped to their end customers. The value of each shipment is based on the type of cores coming in and their condition. Our only requirement for either the bin or tag program is that at least 20 lbs worth of cores are sent at once. Additionally, we set up an end user direct collection site that dealers can use to refer users requiring programs where they don’t want to have any involvement. This site is called Recycle 4 Cash, https://www.recycle4cash.com, and allows end users to send cores directly to MSE for credit based on the same standards we use for our dealers. The ease of this program has greatly accelerated our core uptake given that the number one challenge with core collection is the logistical challenge to manage a program. We have done all of this work for our dealers and their end customers and the results are already paying dividends.
TABS: Through our “Zero Waste to Landfill” program, Toshiba has collected more than 450 tons of e-waste thereby eliminating this significant amount of the environmentally harmful material from filling open land. Last year alone our company recycled almost 200 tons of used toner products.
Through our partnership with internationally-recognized recycler, Close the Loop, we accept other manufacturers’ spent toner consumables – the first company to do so. To completely simplify the recycling process for our customers, Toshiba provides everything necessary for them to dispose of their toner consumables in an environmentally-sensitive manner. Aside from offering recyclable collection boxes, we provide the necessary supplies, transportation and of course, recycling costs.
Participants in Toshiba’s “Zero Waste to Landfill” program further benefit with the knowledge that their used toner consumables are transformed into eLumber to create such outdoor products as park benches, fences and garden boxes for community organizations including Habitat for Humanity. Plastic from spent imaging consumables is also used in the making of rulers and pens.
Clover: Clover offers a wide array of empty collections programs designed to be the most rewarding in the empty cartridge collection industry. Throughout all of its programs, Clover commits to reward its participants with the most competitive buy-back pricing on the broadest assortment of empty cartridges in the industry. Even more importantly, rewards to empty returns are paid to users in cash. This allows users to maximize the return on their collections programs, while also enhancing the flexibility of the programs. Users can use cash earned from their collections programs to fund other areas of their businesses, or to simply drop to their bottom line, unlike some OEM programs that only reward users with credits toward other products.
Clover’s programs are built on a common, sophisticated IT infrastructure to maximize ease of use, while allowing for customization based on users’ needs. Integrated recycling portals allow users to manage their own programs, view current buy-back pricing, order supplies, track their collections, and use an online calculator to measure the positive environmental impact of their programs. All of these important features are designed to maximize the transparency and flexibility of Clover’s collections programs for users.
NCC: NCC collects empties from a wide variety of sources. While our volumes require much of our consumption to be satisfied with empties brokers, our customer base is a very consistent source for empties. We make it easy for our customers to recycle their empties providing a credit for returned empties to us.
LMI: Launched in 2013, LMI’s exclusive ZERO LANDFILL Recycling programs provide resellers and end users with the confidence that their print related consumables will not be burned, exported to third world countries, or end up in landfill sites in the communities we live. From complimentary return shipping labels, to oversized recycling boxes, to full pallet return programs; LMI makes recycling easy for dealers to deploy and even easier with flexible programs available for end users to recycle and reduce their carbon footprint. Backed by industry leading certifications including R2 and ISO 14001, LMI’s industry leading sustainability initiatives can be leveraged by resellers to rebrand their current recycling programs with the accreditation LMI has achieved.
Q 2: What area would you say has the greatest room for improvement in terms of environmental sustainability within your company, and how are you implementing such improvements through your products, services, and company culture?
TABS: Sustainability has always been a focus for Toshiba. Now more than ever we are pursuing means to further enhance our environmental stewardship as a company. To do so, we are focusing on four key areas:
- Greening of Products – working to create products with the highest levels of environmental performance. A prime example is our e-STUDIO306LP/RD30, the only multifunction product (MFP) to implement erasable toner, allowing users to reuse the same sheet of paper multiple times.
- Greening of Process – improving our production processes in pursuit of minimizing our company’s environmental impact. As a result of this approach, a large number of Toshiba’s e-STUDIO products are now EPEAT registered, the definitive global rating system for greener electronics.
- Greening by Technology – deploying low-carbon technologies on a global scale. Toshiba incorporates an array of features within its MFPs to help mitigate climate change. For example, we couple a low-temperature fusing toner and Super Sleep Mode feature – reducing power consumption to a mere 1.5 watts while in this mode – to significantly limit power consumption.
- Green Management – training Toshiba employees to be eco leaders with a focus on biodiversity. Toshiba’s goal is to have 2,000 trained Eco Leaders globally by 2015. To keep eco consciousness top of mind, the company has created a global website where employees can share eco activities and track progress.
Clover: In anticipation of important changes in the legal landscape of the remanufacturing industry, Clover has invested millions of dollars in the development and implementation of the most sophisticated empty cartridge operations in the industry.
Clover’s sophisticated operational procedures, supported by the company’s innovative IT infrastructure, help the company to ensure that its empties reclamation processes integrate seamlessly with its remanufacturing operations. This integration requires 100% traceability at the item level on all cores collected by Clover through its many collections programs, allowing the company to guarantee to customers that its collections and remanufacturing operations are fully aligned with the First Sales Doctrine, which necessitates that all remanufactured ink and toner cartridges sold in the United States are made using cores sourced in the United States. With traceability built into its empty core collections operation, Clover fully indemnifies all of its customers purchasing its remanufactured ink and toner cartridges in North America.
As a company with a strong culture of innovation, Clover is continuously making improvements to its collections operations, having added mobile phones, tablets, and other electronics assets to its collections portfolio in the last two years. This focus on continuous improvement has helped Clover become the world’s largest collector of empty cartridges. In 2012 alone, Clover collected over 70.4 million cartridges and kept 49.9 million pounds of materials out of landfills as reported in the company’s 2012 Sustainability Report. Clover is currently completing its 2013 Sustainability Report, and will be releasing it later this year.
LMI: Industry research indicates that 60 – 80% of used print cartridges are placed in trash cans and then go directly to landfill sites where it can take over 1,000 years for a print cartridge to fully decompose. To combat this, every LMI toner box includes a complimentary return shipping label, so end users can easily return every LMI cartridge for recycling at no cost to the end user or LMI partner. By doing this, LMI assumes full responsibility for every cartridge they manufacture and distribute.
Moving forward in 2014, LMI plans to seize the opportunity to promote and support the recycling behaviors of resellers and end users. Although the concept of print cartridge recycling may not be a new concept to some, the real world execution of recycling used print cartridges still presents a huge opportunity for improvement. To support their customers, LMI plans to expand their award winning infrastructure services to grow reseller awareness of recycling best practices, provide resellers with more tools to engage end users, and help resellers brand their own recycling programs, leveraging LMI’s investment and certifications including their exclusive ZERO LANDFILL recycling programs.
TonerCycle-InkCycle: Since the origins, like any producer of truly remanufactured products, we have been engaged in various forms of recycling. What began as “recycling” has moved into much higher forms of environmental sustainability. We became the first in the industry to take a holistic look at the issue of “sustainability,” both in terms of business and environmental aspects and by continuing to drive newer and better practices. In Q2 2014, we are launching an entirely new division, “Consumer Products Group,” that is focused on new products that are designed to improve the lives of people. Our first product launch includes a product made from recycled material. The next generation (already developed) takes this a step further in the area of reuse and reduce. Right now, this remains under wraps and in beta test, but the sales results are impressive.
MSE: MSE is an ISO 14001 company which means that environmental sustainability and continuous efforts to mitigate our footprint is engrained into our corporate culture. You will even see this manifested in our break rooms, where we have separate recycling bins for plastics and other waste. Going forward, an area of great focus will be the ability to “intelligently re-use” our own cores and more OEM parts. For some time MSE has endeavored to re-use many critical OEM parts such as mag rollers, DVR rollers, etc. This was done foremost to provide the highest quality product due to the fact that, in many instances, the quality of OEM components is superior to aftermarket replacement parts. In addition, the more we can re-use our own cores, the more we promote reuse, plus we have the benefit of increasing our base of available cores.
NCC: As a remanufacturer, we take our mission seriously, to reuse as much as possible from all incoming streams. We have engineered our products to recondition as much of the original cartridge as possible and limited the inclusion of aftermarket items to what is truly necessary to replace in order to ensure quality. An area of continued focus for NCC is in our packaging. We reuse as much incoming packaging materials as possible and we are continuing to reengineer our packaging to improve density without compromising the protection to our product. This allows us to ship more product with less space reducing shipping costs. All items that cannot be reused are recycled if possible with the balance going to R2 or ISO qualified facilities.
