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Canon Australia has joined forces with Planet Ark in a unique environmental programme called 'Cartridges 4 Planet Ark' aimed at remanufacturing or recycling laser and inkjet cartridges.
Each year Australians use more than 18 million laser and inkjet cartridges, collectively weighing over 5,000 tonnes. The majority of them eventually end up in landfill, even though they can contain substances that are hazardous to the environment.*
'Cartridges 4 Planet Ark' is a nationwide campaign designed to address this issue by using new recycling technology developed by Close The Loop, an Australian hi-tech recycling company. Canon is a founding sponsor of the programme and aims to remanufacture or recycle as many cartridges as possible.
"As a leader in environmental preservation, Canon is proud to be a sponsor of 'Cartridges 4 Planet Ark'," said Mr Kenji Kobayashi, Managing Director, Canon Australia.
"Canon supports a wide range of environmental programmes and recycling has always played a central role in our activities. Globally, for example, Canon currently operates the world's largest toner-cartridge recycling programme, so 'Cartridges 4 Planet Ark' is a natural extension of our vision for a clean and healthy environment," he said.
A significant percentage of the components in Canon toner cartridges are parts that are from previously used cartridges. These components are added to new cartridges as part of Canon's stringent-quality re-use program.
Specially-marked boxes
People will be able to drop off all brands of used cartridges in specially-marked boxes at participating Australia Post, Officeworks and Harvey Norman outlets. The collection program is also available free of charge to selected businesses and government departments anywhere in Australia simply by calling 1800 24 24 73.
The publicly returned cartridges will be sent to Close The Loop, where they are sorted and processed, depending on the types of materials they contain. What can't be remanufactured by Canon will be recycled. Everything from the plastics, aluminium, steel, toner powder and even the ink from inkjet cartridges is re-used or recycled.
The recycling process is highly efficient and provides a complete breakdown of components to produce marketable commodities such as aluminium, ferrous metal, plastics, toner and ink.
"The current revolution in digital imaging has seen Australians use more ink and toner cartridges than ever before. This can only expand as more people take up digital photography and home photo-printing," added Mr Tsukahara.
Canon and other printer manufacturers are supporting this Planet Ark program by covering the cost of collecting and recycling the cartridges. This level of support is unprecedented.
*Please note that the toners and inks currently used in Canon products are classed as non-hazardous according to the criteria of WorkSafe Australia.
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