Product stewardship has become a new business model for printer technology manufacturers, where they take full responsibility for their products throughout the entire lifecycle. Global leaders are implementing product stewardship initiatives like recycling and reuse programs to create new revenue channels, improve efficiency, and meet demand for sustainable products. Printer manufacturers are developing technologies to reclaim materials from old products and refurbish equipment to extend the useful life. Strict new regulations around the world will likely drive further adoption of product stewardship practices in the industry.

1. Feature: Product Stewardship
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Product Stewardship: The
New Green Business
Model for Printer
Technology Manufacturers
Global leaders recycle, reuse and reinvent
products to create channels for profit
By Dawn Kehr, Correspondent for
Source Technologies
Industry in the United States, has generally
implemented environmental management
initiatives to respond to mandated regulatory requirements. Managers may also enact greener operation
policies to realize cost reductions and to prevent undue public scrutiny of their organizations. However,
according to an August 2008 report developed by Eye for Transport (EFT) Research, the tide within the
manufacturing sector has shifted from one of reaction to one based on strategy, process and product
optimization.
EFT reported that 84 percent, of 300 respondents, said green principles are at the core of their business
optimization strategies. Sixty-two percent of managers said green initiatives allowed them to meet
demand for customer interest in sustainable products. Aside from market opportunities however, 43
percent said their main reason for instituting green practices was to improve process efficiency and
product quality. They named recycling and reuse programs, water reduction and energy, materials and
supplier management programs as important initiatives for their organizations.
The managers interested in shaping process and product quality have internalized a concept called
product stewardship. Companies who embody this concept take full responsibility for designing,
producing and maintaining products that have lives beyond the landfill. Within the printing and document
management industries, product stewardship has encompassed recycling efforts and defined new
service-focused channels for revenue, that allow manufacturers to limit electronic waste disposal. The
industry is also developing new ink applications and recovery processes that will allow manufacturers to
offer solutions for sustainable workplaces.
Reverse Logistics Magazine reported in its May/June 2008 issue that Panasonic, in partnership with
Kusatsu Electric Co., has developed a technology that reclaims plastic-coated metal components in
electronics by using titanium oxide as a catalyst to evaporate plastic compounds into non-hazardous
gases.
While recycling fulfills companies' materials management initiatives, printer technology providers have
also come up with a way to extend the life of their original products by offering maintenance service
agreements bundled in with the cost of their hardware. Since 1990, Source Technologies' asset
recovery program has allowed the company to reclaim printing chemicals and parts from returned
printers nearing the end of their productive lives. Previously-owned machines are refurbished and resold
for at least one, if not two more, life cycles before they are retired and recycled.
Lyrica Research estimates that every year 15.2 trillion pieces of paper are printed worldwide. Analysts
estimate that this amount will increase 30 percent within 10 years. Xerox hopes that a photo sensitive
printing technology it unveiled in September will revolutionize and redefine the paperless office. The
technology uses a diode that emits UV light on to paper that is chemically treated to respond to specific
lengths of UV radiation to imprint a page. Over a 24-hour period, the temporarily darkened molecules
Feature Article
Product Stewardship: The New
Green Business Model for Printer
Technology Manufacturers
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2. react to temperature and light within a room. Gradually the copy lightens and disappears and the paper
can be reused.
Printer manufacturers' practice of product stewardship shows that green technology development is not
only possible, it is imperative to staying competitive in the industry. However it will be the continued
maturation of global regulation that will significantly impact product stewardship adoption in coming
years.
Within the European Union, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America, programs like
Restrictions of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS)
and the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances (REACH)
currently impact hazardous material management at every stage of the product lifecycle. In the United
States, the Northwest Product Stewardship Council is leading the charge for regulated green electronics
design, production and lifecycle management.
Product stewardship regulation will further integrate the global economy and make it necessary for
manufacturers in all industries to creatively discover a greener reality for their products.
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