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.
Big Apple commits 10 per cent of energy budget to slashing emissions by 30 per cent by 2017 10 Dec 2007
BS 8901 offers best practice guidance on how to run a sustainable conference or sporting event 16 Nov 2007
Middle East, Japan and US targeted as offset provider seeks to take advantage of markets "exponential growth" 11 Jan 2008
Intelligent Energy ramps up funding for R&D and partnerships 04 Jul 2008
Focus on energy savings through fuel efficiency for homes and public and commercial buildings 04 Jul 2008
ActionAid accuses G8 of driving more people into poverty by pursing biofuels and cutting agri-aid 04 Jul 2008
More news
Businesses' new found focus on the environment may be welcome, but according to Conrad MacKerron, it is taking attention away from workers' rights issues – and the credibility of the entire green business movement could be at risk 03 Jul 2008
It may be a year old, but as Dell's Jonathan Perry explains, firms looking to get rid of their old IT kit still need to pay attention to the WEEE directive 02 Jul 2008
Telling customers about your environmental targets is all well and good but, as Paul Thomas argues, they are meaningless if you do not know how they are to be achieved 01 Jul 2008 More in-depth
Post your comment
Send an email to the Business Green editor at feedback@businessgreen.com
