HP is going to double the recycled plastic in its cartridges

Printweek.com has announced that HP will double the amount of recycled plastic used in its inkjet print cartridges this year. The company made 200 million original HP inkjet print cartridges from recycled plastic in 2007. Now the company put in function a new recycling process. The multi-phase recycling process reduces the cartridges to raw materials, such as plastics and metals. HP then combines plastic from the inkjet cartridges with recycled bottle resin and a suite of compounding additives.

The total plastic in a cartridge is 70-100% recycled content, while stringent testing ensures consistency and reliability of the product.

Michael Hoffmann, senior vice president for the supplies, imaging and printing group at HP, said the technology reduced the company's impact on the environment.

"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," Hoffmann said.

HP's Planet Partners program offers free and easy cartridge returns in more than 45 countries, regions and territories, with a commitment that all returned cartridges would be recycled.

After this piece of news was published there were a couple of commentaries left. They do provide some insight why HP's recycling program may turn out to be less "green" than it claims to be.

Jeff Harper : You can't help but wonder how many millions of perfectly good, re-usable cartridges have been sacrificed at the altar of HP's "environmental mission". Recycling is the 2nd WORST thing you can do, re-use is the 2nd BEST thing. HP (and the other OEM's) go to amazing lengths to recover perfectly good empty cartridges and destroy them by crushing/processing/pulping etc.

Charyle Calvert: The latest "green movement" is calling for more eco-friendly ways to reduce global warming. Recycling often involves methods that can contribute to global warming. Reusing, remanufacturing and repairing products and supplies are the first line of defense. Once a product can no longer be repaired, remanufactured or reused, then the recycling method is the end of the road for that item. Anything put together with screws should be repairable. The limitation to repair is created by the OEM's who do not provide for accessibility to repair parts! This should be absolutely illegal in a society attempting to reduce e-waste.

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Key words: HP, recycling program