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Product Recycling

Collection trends for products and cartridges in the 5 major regions

Summary of activities in each region

Europe

For finished products

As a producer, Epson fully supports the recycling of our products in line with the European WEEE Directive and has ensured that our responsibilities in meeting this directive are fully met in all European countries, either through its own participation in local schemes or through its network of distributors.

For consumables

In Europe we launched a program in 2007 that allows customers to return one or more used cartridges by a box collection program. Since then we have expanded our web-based Cartridge Collection and Recycling Program to cover toner, ink and Large Format Printer cartridges via a multitude of collection routes. The collection program for Toner and Large Format Printer cartridges and is available in 25 countries and the ink Cartridge Collection and Recycling Program covers 16 European countries.

• Europe & South Africa

North America

For finished products and consumables

In North America there is a move to introduce a Federal law pursuing producer responsibilities in collection/recycling of the WEEE. In the U.S. Epson America Inc. has run a voluntary take back program since 2002.

• USA
• Canada

Asia

For finished products

In China, developments of recycling-related laws proceed. Epson China Co., Ltd. has promoted a voluntary program since 2003.
In Taiwan, Epson Taiwan Technology & Trading Ltd. complies with the revised regulations of "The Method of Waste Disposal of 2001".
In Korea, Epson Korea Co., Ltd. is a member of AEE (Association of Electronics Environment) and observes the related laws.

• Korea

For consumables

In China in 2002 and in Korea in 2001 we started cartridge collection through a Web site.
In Hong Kong we started ink and toner cartridge collection in 2007. For each returned Epson empty toner cartridge, end users can get 2000 e-mileage points (worth HK$20) in their e-mileage account.
In Taiwan, Epson Taiwan Technology & Trading Ltd. set up a system in 2001 using a toll-free number and a website to accept collection requests directly from customers to facilitate on the-spot collection.

• Hong Kong
• Taiwan

Oceania

For finished products

In Australia, Epson Australia Pty. Ltd participates in a trial called Byteback. Byteback is an Australian first as government and industry are sharing responsibility for disposing of computer waste safely. Sustainability Victoria is running Byteback in partnership with the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) and founding partner Epson.

• Australia

For consumables

It also participates in a Cartridges For Planet Ark program. Epson is a founding member of this promotion to recycle ink cartridges and toner cartridges.

The aim of the program is to reduce some of the 5,000 tonnes of cartridge waste going to landfill each year by recycling 100% of the cartridges and their contents into other products. Collection boxes for the C4PA program can be found in most Australia Post, Officeworks, Harvey Norman, Dick Smith and Tandy outlets.

• Australia

Japan

For finished products

In Japan, producers have been required to collect and recycle unused computers from private users as well as business users since October, 2003, after a revision of the "Law for Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources ". In October 1999, Epson launched the voluntary collection and recycling of not only waste computers but also other Epson-brand WEEE (printers, scanners, projectors, etc.) from corporations ahead of the enforcement of related laws.

• Japan

For consumables

Users can cooperate through various collection programs in Japan.

• Japan

[Used ink cartridges and the Bellmark program]

• Supporting children and raising environmental awareness

In June 2004, Epson Sales Japan started a domestic campaign that links the collection of ink cartridges with the Bellmark program. The campaign was expanded in March 2005 to include toner cartridges. The spread of printers has generated huge amounts of used cartridges, the collection of which is Epson's social responsibility. Epson has long placed collection boxes in electronics retailers throughout Japan. In an effort to further raise our collection rate while also boosting children's interest in recycling, we developed a system for collecting cartridges at schools. Currently, 36% of all collected cartridges are through the Bellmark program. The Recovery Center collects the cartridges gathered at each school, awards points according to the type of cartridge, and issues a Bellmark point certificate.

The program started with collection boxes in 4,000 schools and has expanded to include 10,000 schools as of March 2007. We will continue our efforts to achieve our next target of 20,000 schools. In April 2006, we also began installing Bellmark-linked collection boxes in community centers in an effort to promote recycling in local communities.

• Reutilizing resources from collected cartridges

In addition to returning them to the market as genuine recycled ink cartridges, collected cartridges are disassembled, sorted, and used as recycled materials so that no part goes to waste.

[Developing genuine recycled ink cartridges]

Harmony with the environment is one of Seiko Epson's most critical management missions. We practice environmentally sound management principles to achieve coexistence between our economic activities and the environment. The ultimate goal is to create a sustainable society. To reduce the impact of ink cartridges on the growing waste problem, we developed a way to refill the ink cartridges we collect to make a recycled cartridge that maintains the high quality prints our customers expect. The cartridges were launched in Japan in May 2007 on the Epson Sales Japan shopping website.

[Maintaining the quality of recycled products]

The development of new ways to recycle and mass-produce ink cartridges in combination with our strict quality control for maintaining Epson quality standards has made it possible to create recycled ink cartridges (32-series) that offer the same quality and features as new ink cartridges.