Konica Minolta has reached a major recycling milestone; it has diverted one million printer cartridges from landfill, saving more than 600 tons of waste. The company has partnered with cartridge collection initiatives Cartridges 4 Planet Ark and Close the Loop to reclaim waste from its bizhub production printers and its office printers. It estimates that 49 per cent of the recycled cartridges were from production print devices.

Dr David Cooke (left) managing director of Konica Minolta, with the result of the millionth recycled catrtidge

David Cooke, managing director at Konica Minolta Australia, says, “Konica Minolta works hard to be a sustainable company by measuring, minimising and managing our carbon emissions. Diverting landfill and reducing greenhouse emissions from used toner cartridges are just one of the ways our organisation is making a positive and meaningful contribution to the environment and our community.” Konica Minolta says 92 per cent of its machines are recycled at the end of their life via Sims Recycling Solutions and all toner bottles and consumables are reclaimed through Close the Loop – which converts them into products like eWood (wood substitute) park benches and garden beds. The company says it is also an official corporate supporter of Landcare Australia, and in September was named a gold class sustainability leader on the 2013 Dow Jones Sustainability Asia Pacific Index, to which it has been named for the past five years in a row. By building environmentally-friendly features into its business machines, which it says are now more energy efficient, use less toner, and produce less greenhouse gas emissions, the company has committed to reducing its own global CO2 emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.  

Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter