Canon USA Receives Fourth EPA WasteWise Award
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 10.30.05
Canon U.S.A., who we previously talked about, has just won its fourth consecutive WasteWise Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “Canon is recognized for implementing a comprehensive waste reduction program, and it is the fourth consecutive year and fifth year since its inception that this program has presented Canon with an achievement award.”
WasteWise is a free and voluntary partnership program launched by EPA in 1994. The program provides guidance and recognition to more than 1,300 participating organizations (corporate, government, nonprofit and education) working to find practical methods to reduce municipal solid waste and improve financial performance. Canon U.S.A. has participated since 1994. [...]the EPA credited Canon with several key accomplishments in reducing waste, including:
-- Canon's worldwide toner cartridge collection and recycling program for printers and copiers that was established in 1990. The creation of a global recycling network under which the amount of returned cartridges grows each year while attaining 100 percent recovery and zero landfill waste by reusing parts, recycling materials and utilizing energy recovery. Canon promotes recycling among customers and has recovered more than 127,000 tons of cartridges.
-- Canon refurbished, remanufactured, resold, or used internally more than 230,000 various products for during 2004.
-- Canon proactively encourages employees to use email and duplex copying to reduce office paper waste, and has developed a system to collect discarded paper, computer media and other waste that can be recycled.
-- Canon extended its waste reduction reach to employee cafeterias, instituting an incentive program that offers employees discounts on beverages if they use their personal mugs rather than disposable cups. Canon also promotes many additional internal conservation activities.
::Canon U.S.A. Receives Fourth Consecutive WasteWise Award, ::Canon Environmental & Community Programs
That's fine and dandy, but the whole approach of the ink jet printer market is ridiculously wasteful by design. What would be truly worthy of an award is if a printer company like Canon would stop playing the "cheap printer/expensive cartridge" game and instead moved towards some sort of printing service contract which employed more ink per unit of packaging.