HP (China) Reports Success in Printer Recycling

According to Hewlett Packard spokeswoman, Ms. Mo Lin, HP (China) has made laudable achievements in printer hardware recycling. Ms. Lin claimed that HP has adopted three ways to dispose of discarded equipment:  reuse, recycle and data destruction.

In the segment of reuse, from 2003 to 2012, HP (China) refurbished more than 30 million machines as well as their component parts. In 2012 alone, the number of refurbished hardware products reached 3.9 million, their weight amounting to more than 2,600 tons which is equal to 68% of the steel reinforcing bars (rebar) used to build Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium and China’s National Indoor Stadium.

HP has launched a program to deal with used machines by which customers only need to make a phone call to get their old equipment recycled. And they receive a reward. Thereby, not only is the collection of the product accomplished, but the processing is simplified as well.

Ms. Mo Lin also revealed that HP (China) achieved much progress in advancing the recycling process. From 1987 to 2012, printer consumables recycled by the company amounted to 2.5 billion pounds. The weight of these consumables is 8.8 times that of the building materials for the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium. In 2012, the weight of recycled printer consumables increased to 3.2 billion pounds. Of this total, more than 2.6 billion pounds were reused. That represents an 80% recovery rate.

HP (China) claims it has infiltrated its environmental protection concept into all phases of its supply chain. Starting from the design phase, the company has taken into consideration the green design concept as well as the detachability and recyclability of products. Recyclable materials such as, bamboo fibers and recycled paper are generally used in products and packaging.

HP (China) says its schemes for discarded equipment disposal have also been applied to various other production lines.