31 Jan 2008
HP has developed a new technique for turning waste plastic bottles into inkjet printer cartridges as part of a "closed loop" recycling program.
Unveiled yesterday, the process sees HP combine the plastic from printer cartridges collected through its customer recycling progamme with recycled bottle resin to manufacture new inkjet printer cartridges. The company said that compounding additives used in the process ensure the recycled materials meet performance standards required of new cartridges.
HP added that the amount of recycled content in the new inkjet cartridges varies between 70 to 100 per cent of the total plastic used. The process has already been used to manufacture 200 million cartridges, saving energy and using enough recycled plastic to fill more than 200 tractor trailers, the company said.
Michael Hoffmann, senior vice president at HP's supplies, imaging and printing group, welcomed the development, claiming it offered a significant opportunity for the compant "to reduce the environmental impact HP products have on the planet".
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You can't help but wonder how many millions of perfectly good, re-usable printer cartridges have been sacrificed at the alter of HP's "environmental mission". Recycling is the 2nd WORST thing you can do, re-use is the 2nd BEST thing. HP (and the other OEM's) go to amazing lengths to recover perfectly good empty printer cartridges and destroy them by crushing/processing/pulping etc. The car industry would be castigated if they went around collecting perfectly good cars, therby reducing the available market of used vehicles and forcing you to buy a new car. I challenge HP to accept previously rebuilt printer cartridges, from the remanufacturing industry, that have no lives left in them to be put through their Close the Loop process, so far Planet Ark and Close the Loop in Australia point blank refuse.
Posted by Jeff Harper, 31 Jan 2008