Xerox slashes costs as its cuts waste

Printing giant Xerox has announced that it has slashed $2bn off its operating costs by cutting the amount of electronic waste sent to landfill by two billion pounds since 1991.

The company said it had achieved the massive cost saving by recycling and remanufacturing used printer cartridges, toner containers and imaging equipment as part of its Green World Alliance program.

"If that amount of waste were loaded into garbage trucks, it would fill more than 160,000 trucks, stretching more than 1,000 miles, from Seattle to the Mexican border," said Patricia Calkins, Xerox vice president for environment, health and safety.

She added: "We believe sustainability is an integral part of developing products, serving customers and posting profits."

Aside from recycling cartridges and other components the company said it has also been reusing left over toner ink returned by its customers.

The announcement on waste reduction formed part of Xerox's 2007 Report on Global Citizenship, which outlined how it plans to tackle climate change and improve its social responsibility record.

The report also included commitments to ensure Xerox becomes completely carbon neutral; cut both the company's and its customers' green house gas emissions; produce more environmentally responsible paper that uses half as many trees; further reduce toxic emissions, having already cut emissions by 94 per cent since 1991; and ensure waste-free production and usage of its products.