HP unveils world’s first in-class printer made with closed-loop recycled plastic

The new HP ENVY Photo Printer, launched last week, contains more than 10% closed-loop plastic from recycled printers and other electronic plastic by weight. The printer’s paper is made with 100% certified fibre or recycled content and the ink cartridges are made from recycled plastic bottles from Haiti. Additionally, the device and all accessories can recycled at the end-of-life via HP Planet Partners.

HP chief sustainability and social impact officer Nathan Hurst said: “At HP, we are constantly reinventing how our products are created, used, and maintained to reduce our environmental impact. The ENVY Photo printers provide a sustainable printing ecosystem, making it easy for customers to join us in the circular economy from their own homes.”

Closed-loop printing

HP’s push towards a circular economy and servitisation-based business model has seen the relationship between the IT company and its customers evolve from one based purely on transactions to a point where customer demand is now helping to advance closed-loop initiatives.

Through a service-based approach, the company has moved away from simply selling printers to charging customers for copies. HP’s Instant Ink service autonomously arranges ink cartridge deliveries for consumers using Wi-Fi enabled printers that send alerts when ink cartridges are low on ink. Through the Internet of Things (IoT), HP can interact with the printers and order the correct cartridge without having to involve the customer.

In 2016, HP manufactured more than 3.4 billion ink and toner cartridges using more than 88,900 tonnes of recycled material. This included 3.7 billion plastic bottles. In total, more than 80% of HP ink cartridges contain 45-70% recycled content and all toner cartridges contain at least 10% recycled content.

As well as becoming a member of Ellen MacArthur’s Circular Economy 100 project to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, the company has joined the RE100 scheme through a commitment to source 100% renewable energy, and has also made a bold zero-deforestation pledge for 2020.

HP’s latest sustainability report, released in June, includes a new target to reduce first-tier production supplier and production transportation emission intensity by 10% by 2025, against a 2015 baseline.

George Ogleby