Lake Success / N.Y - In 2010, Canon Inc. will mark the 20th anniversary of the Canon Toner Cartridge Recycling Program, a zero-landfill program in which every component of the used all-in-one toner cartridges that the Company collects is reused, recycled or recovered.

First-of-its-Kind In 1982, Canon created the world’s first personal copying machines incorporating replaceable all-in-one toner cartridges. These toner cartridges were then adapted for use in laser beam printers and rapidly gained in popularity. However, with this increase in popularity came an increase in the number of used cartridges.

But Canon’s corporate philosophy of Kyosei – living and working for the common good – provided the company with a awareness of environmental issues such as a commitment to waste reduction and resource conservation. In accordance with this commitment, Canon introduced the Toner Cartridge Recycling Program. First launched in 1990, the program has collected approximately 220,000 metric tons of used toner cartridges. The initiative, launched on a global scale by a single business group at no cost to customers, marked a watershed moment within the industry. The cartridge return program now operates in 23 countries worldwide, supported by four global recycling bases in Japan, China, Virginia and in France.

As part of its Clean Earth Campaign and the Toner Cartridge Recycling Program, Canon Virginia, Inc. opened Industrial Resource Technologies, Inc. (IRT), a toner cartridge recycling facility in Gloucester, Virginia, in 1996 to begin to reclaim all-in-one cartridges in the U.S. IRT has the distinction of being one of the few automated recycling operations for Canon worldwide and the only cartridge recycling facility within Canon Americas.

As a result, since 2003, all four of Canon’s recycling bases have achieved a 100 percent recycling and recovery rate (i.e. generated zero landfill waste); by the end of June 2009, the company had reduced the use of new resources by approximately 140,000 metric tons and prevented 370,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions.

Quelle: Canon Inc.

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