Sustainable print solutions 

As customers become increasingly concerned about the sustainability of their print solutions, what services can businesses offer in addition to a high quality and reliable print processes?

Read the full article below or read on page 24 in our February magazine 

As part of the UK governments effort to meet net zero by 2050, businesses must address the environmental impacts of their actions and implement sustainable measures to support their customers through their net zero journeys. 

“Businesses have a huge responsibility when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which effect the entire life cycle of their products”, says Konica Minolta head of indirect sales, Cameron Mitchell. But, according to Lisa Hainsworth, business development manager at Static Control, “within the print industry there is a wide range of customers who are all at different points in their sustainability journey – having a solution that fits all is extremely challenging.” In light of this, dealers should be considering how to offer alternative solutions across the printing process. 

Eco or recycled paper 

Paper fibres can be recycled four or five times in their lifecycle and the process of creating recycled paper uses 31% less energy than the creation of virgin fibre paper, and 35,000 fewer litres of water. For eco paper alternatives, business can look to agricultural residues, wild plants or textiles and cordage wastes. 

Scanning 

Incorporating document scanning into business workflows can significantly reduce paper usage and waste; digital copies significantly reduce paper consumption and also saves energy and reduces s by eliminating the financial and environmental costs arising from the use of ink and toner. For businesses choosing documents scanners, it is crucial to choose sustainably manufactured products and to properly communicate all their responsible end-of-life recycling practices to customers.

Managed print system

Managed print systems offer sustainable solutions for printing processes with larger environmental impacts. They can monitor toner levels to ensure the cartridge is not changed until it needs to be, and provide advice on the most efficient print practice, such as whether or not to use full colour. “This accountability is reportable, and this encourages users not to be wasteful,” Steve says.

Remanufactured or biodegradable ink cartridges 

For businesses looking to offer sustainable solutions to customers in search of toner and ink cartridges, they can look to remanufactured cartridges as an option. According to Steve Clayton, their remanufactured inkjet cartridges are “more environmentally friendly than the single use OEM versions due to less waste, packaging and their ability to expand the lifespan of products by re-using the same printhead up to three times.” In the same vein, biodegradable cartridges are a sustainable alternative which Peter Cowan, group chief operations officer at Data Direct, are continuing to develop. “We have gone way beyond simply cramming more toner into a cartridge to make it a ‘jumbo’ or similar description. We now promote a range of biodegradable toner cartridges, for example, and we will continue to develop this technology with our manufacturers.”

Building a circular economy 

According to Cameron, “the circular economy is increasingly front and centre of many organisations, as sustainability becomes more of a high-level focus for customers and suppliers alike.” Reusing and regenerating materials and products prioritises sustainability and build quality over price advantage as the products must be reliable across multiple lifecycles. 

“One of the benefits of this reliability is additional life, both in terms of less frequent replacement of machines on customer sites, and also a second user opportunity, as devices are refurbished and returned to the marketplace,” said Cameron. But, for Steve Clayton, the challenges of a circular marketplace lie outside the print process. “Our major challenge that affects us and our partner dealers is the cost and infrastructure of collection.”

Looking forward 

Cameron believes sustainable print solutions are continuing to develop and improve across the industry. “We will see continued demand to build a circular economy, enabling the reuse and recycling of materials as many times as possible thereby minimising waste and consumption of natural resources. The market will see increased demand to utilise second user devices to meet environmental targets.” However, according to Lisa, sustainable print solutions should already be in place. “With the plastic tax coming in for 2024, companies should already have plans that are underway to compensate for additional costs. In the majority of cases, it can’t be sustainable to maintain existing plastic packaging with the additional costs that will bring. Moving forward sustainable print solutions will be an absolute requirement, rather than a nice to have that they are today.”

But sustainable solutions are not cheap. “The cost of sustainability is much higher,” says Lisa, “and whilst it is wanted by customers, the majority don’t want to pay extra for it.” One option is, according to Lisa, to “work the additional costs into the pricing of the product so it is not deemed as an additional hike and it already covered.” But for Peter, working with manufacturers to minimise costs is key. “We deal with manufacturers that actually re-work technology so that products delivered to site can achieve much higher yield,” he says. “Offering kits so that dealers can remanufacture drum and fuser units on site can reduce two-way transport costs and related carbon waste.”

Whilst offering sustainable print solutions that meet customer demands is essential, communicating the benefits of these solutions is crucial. “Education is the biggest hurdle,” says Steve Weedon, CEO of Printrite. “Resellers need to understand the features and benefits of their products and offer them to their end-user customers to sell value rather than win orders on price alone. We invest in innovation and use our patented technologies in our product range to provide the features and benefits that customers need and marketing, social media and trade advertising with our authorised distributors helps to get the message out and offer training to their salespeople.”