HP Inkjet Cartridges First With Recycled Plastic

Post-consumer recycled plastics are now being used by HP in the production of its new original inkjet printing cartridges.

HP claimed that the development is an industry first and it has already manufactured 200 million cartridges using the new process.

According to the company, it used more than 2.26 million kilograms of recycled plastic in its inkjet cartridges last year and it is committed to using twice as much recycled material this year.

HP said that its recycling process facilitates the combination of multiple sources and grades of recycled plastics, from everyday water bottles to technical HP inkjet cartridges.

In addition to closing the design loop, using recycled content saves energy and keeps plastic out of landfill sites and since first piloting the process, HP added that it has used enough recycled plastic to fill 200 tractor trailers.

In developing the process, HP engineers, chemists and business partners dedicated themselves to finding a way to provide the environmental benefits of using recycled materials, said the company.

The inkjet cartridges returned through HP's planet partners programme undergo a multi-phase recycling process that reduces them to raw materials, such as plastics and metals.

HP said it combines plastic from the inkjet cartridges with recycled bottle resin and a suite of compounding additives to ensure all recycled materials meet HP's high-performance standards.

The amount of recycled content in the HP inkjet cartridges may vary between 70 per cent to 100 per cent of the total plastic used but the reliability results for each product are stringently tested and consistent across the line-up.

And unlike companies that simply re-manufacture cartridges, HP claimed that it has found a way to mould the recycled plastic components in to new original HP inkjet cartridges.

Michael Hoffmann, senior vice president of supplies, imaging and printing group at HP, explained: "By developing the technology to use recycled plastics in original HP inkjet print cartridges, we have the opportunity to reduce the environmental impact HP products have on the planet.

HP's considerable investments in building a recycling infrastructure made this achievement possible and this is just the beginning of what we hope to accomplish." The Society of Plastics Engineers, a trade organisation for the plastics industry, plans to present HP with its environmental stewardship award at the Global Plastics Environmental Conference in March.

Larry Koester, vice president of communications for the Environmental Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers, said: "HP's use of recycled plastic in an application as technically demanding as their inkjet cartridges represents an unprecedented engineering innovation.

This remarkable achievement comes after many years of perseverance and ingenuity by HP and its partners." HP said that its approach to environmental management of its print cartridges considers every facet of the product lifecycle, from design to manufacture to recycling.

HP's planet partners return and recycling programme provides free cartridge returns in 45 countries, regions and territories and cartridges returned through planet partners are never refilled, resold or sent to a landfill.

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