There is no doubt that in all walks of life, things have to
change in terms the consumption of the earth's resources,
and nowhere is this more obvious than in the recycling of
electrical and electronic waste.
Estimates show that the amount of electronic, electrical
and chemical waste produced in a lifetime per person in the
western world is about 3.3 tonnes. In the UK alone, 1
million tonnes of electrical and electronic waste goes into
landfill every year. Surely this will only increase as time
goes on unless actions and attitudes change? Current trends
are just not responsible or sustainable. An estimated 1
billion people live below the poverty line, 2 billion
people lack safe water, 3.1 billion lack sanitation and
millions of children live on rubbish dumps around the world.
And this when around 20% of the world's population is in
the developed world and yet they are responsible for 80% of
commercial energy use, 75% of timber consumption, 50% of
fish and grain consumption and 40% fresh water consumption
Meanwhile, in 2005, the World Land Trust declared that
almost 90% of all office printing and copier cartridges can
be reused or recycled. We need to see this happen.
The statistics are scary, but certainly big strides are
being made in legislation and environmental standards in
the electronics industry. The WEEE directive in the UK and
Germany "Blue Angel" scheme are two such initiatives.
Sanctions against companies who ignore their
responsibilities are severe.
However, on an individual basis when it comes to buying new
equipment, everyone can do their bit by taking time to
learn a little more about the environmental impact of
certain types of equipment. For example, when it comes to
office or home printers, we can recognise that longevity
and durability is not restricted to the body of the printer
only. Just as important are the moving parts and imaging
elements of the printer.
Different manufacturers, and different machines across any
individual manufacturers range, have configurations which
increase user-convenience by integrating all the
mission-critical elements into one disposal replacement
kit. It is not hard to see that that the short-term cost
saving [ which actually in some cases may not be so great]
and convenience can have a high cost in terms of correct
and managed disposal of the replacement parts.
Inkjet printers are largely configured either with an
integrated ink tank/print head or with long-lasting print
head with separate ink tank(s). Additionally there are
variations on the long-lasting print head configuration.
These can comprise those with replaceable heads OR those
with permanent units that are factory fitted with no
user-replaceable parts. Lexmark are exclusively in the
first category, with integrated cartridges only, and
Brother and Epson are exclusively in the final category
with fixed, long-life print heads only. Canon and
Hewlett-Packard are in both categories, with both
configurations found in their product range, while
Hewlett-Packard also has models based on both replaceable
AND permanent long-life print head
Where Laser printers are concerned, the situation is very
much the same. Some manufacturers use single-piece toner
cartridges where the whole, business-end imaging system is
contained within one unit, while others split the unit down
into component parts.
These components in essence, comprise the toner cassette,
the developing roller and the OPC (imaging) drum. There are
configurations that either split all three elements apart
or simply split off the toner cassette from the mechanical
elements (developer roller and OPC drum) that are contained
in an imaging unit. In some instances (more typical of
colour laser printers) the developer roller and the toner
are combined with a separate OPC drum.
Print engine manufacturers typically employing the
single-piece design include (for mono laser printers)
Canon; Lexmark; Ricoh; and Fuji Xerox. Those typically
employing a two- or three-piece configuration, but also
some single-piece units include: Brother; Konica Minolta;
Oki; and Sharp.
Lexmark is in the position of being a majority single-piece
manufacturer with some printers that have a multi-part
build. Kyocera is in a category of its own with an ultra
long-life OPC drum configuration.
On the Total Cost of Printing agenda, printers with
multipart configurations were once guaranteed to offer a
lower Cost Per Page overall. But this is no longer the case
because manufacturers have realised the power of marketing
based on Cost Per Page and not on the cost of the
consumable items with ink or toner.
Generally speaking, at the higher end of the market, mono
laser printers use a single-piece toner cartridge with all
the imaging elements contained within it. This is because
the drum is worked hard and it would be very difficult to
guarantee the drum life much beyond the life of the toner
contained in the cartridge (particularly at 30,000 pages
per cartridge).
However, even in these cases, there are significant
environmental implications to following the long-life,
multi-part, route ' for the printer user as well as for the
manufacturer and the planet.
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Jimi St. Pierre writes for several Office Equipment
suppliers in the UK, including office printer supplier
Officemagic. The Officemagic range of inkjet, laser and
multifunctional printers can be found at =>
http://www.officemagic.co.uk/
