Seiko Epson Corporation

In addition to reducing impact with compact and lightweight products, we approached these products from the design stage with consideration for resource-saving and easy recycling after a product is no longer used. Specifically, we defined a "recyclable rate^*1" as an index for evaluating the recyclability calculated from product design drawings, and set 75% or higher as our target value. In 2007, we surpassed this target value with 92.5% of related products, including printers, scanners, and computers.

In addition, we also applied other information to product design to make recycling easier, such as design points from the Epson Ecology Center (Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture) where used and discarded products are collected, disassembled, and sorted. The following are examples of our primary efforts with completed products, including printers, scanners, and computers.

• Material identification coding based on ISO11469 and ISO1043, for plastic parts of 25g or greater (example: >HI-PS<)
• "Disassembly marks" that indicate locations for inserting tools when disassembling a unit
• Avoiding the use of adhesive bonding and joints of dissimilar material (examples: avoiding the insertion of metal parts in plastic housings, adhesion of polystyrene foam cushioning material to cardboard boxes, etc.)
• Embossed labels (example: molded caution labels in place of conventional stickers, etc.)
• Avoiding the use of laminates, etc, for manuals

In the future, Epson will continue to aim to reduce environmental impact across the entire lifecycle of their products, and create products with consideration for how they will be discarded after use by customers.

*1 Recyclable rate: Percentage of the weight of materials and parts judged to be recyclable in the total weight of the product, not including the recycling of blast-furnace reduction material and combustion aid material (thermal recycling).

1. Inkjet multifunction printer size reduction

Material manufacturing is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the life cycle of an all-in-one inkjet printer. To mitigate these emissions in the EP-802A, we arranged the ink cartridges off-carriage. We shrunk the back-pressure control unit, which regulates ink pressure, and reduced the size of the printhead, thereby nearly halving the space required for head movement inside the printer.. Product volume has been reduced by approximately 50% compared to the PM-A870 (Epson Stylus Photo RX620/ RX630) released 5 years ago in 2004, (Figure 1).

Reduced size has resulted in a 1.3x increase in the number of units that can be loaded on pallets for delivery, compared with the PM-A870 (Figure 2).

Figure 1. Reduce the product volume

Figure 2. Improvements in transport efficiency through reduced size in products and packaging

2. Unpainted housing parts^* for inkjet printers

We have developed "glossy molding" technology that does not require painting of the plastic housings for printers, for application on our products (Photo 1). This glossy molding technology, achieved through the selection of plastic materials and the establishment of molding technology, creates a premium appearance in our products and contributes to the reduction of environmental impact.

• Resource-saving
  • Paint is not required.
  • Plastic housings can be recycled as a higher quality material.
• Energy saving
  • Painting processes are not required.

*Except for operation panel markings and design detail

3. Reduced volume of user manuals

We publish manuals in 30 languages, including English, French, Italian, and Spanish, in Europe. With 50 pages for each language, the entire text of manuals we create is 1,500 pages, resulting in a huge volume of paper that must be reduced. Therefore, we made the following improvements to user manuals for inkjet multifunction printers, to improve usability while also decreasing the volume of paper used by approximately 25% (Figure 2).

<Points of improvement>

• Reduced paper size: A4 to A5
• Short and concise content: removal of redundant information and detailed check of required information
• Innovative layouts
• Change from text format to illustrated format
• Multilanguage compilation

Figure 2. Reduced volume of user manuals

4. New and improved paper packages for LFP ink cartridges

Ink cartridges come in many different types, and preparing a unique package for each is inefficient. For this reason Epson uses boxes made from 100% recycled paper, with information printed in seven languages, that can be used in any market around the world. Any necessary cartridge-specific information is provided by affixing labels to the boxes. The labels are printed out in the exact number needed, so there is no wasted inventory and resources can be used effectively and efficiently (Photo 2). These efforts have been well received and awards have been won, including the "Electric Equipment Packaging Category Award" in the 2007 Japan Packaging Contest, and in the "Electronics" category in the international packaging contest World Star 2007.

Photo 2. Conventional package and New package

5. Tuning-fork crystal unit downsizes

Demand for further downsizing of electronic devices has been growing in the field of mobile products such as cellular phone, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and portable media players. At Epson Toyocom Corporation, efforts aimed at improving and miniaturizing tuning-fork-type crystal unit have resulted in reducing the volume to 1/100 what it was approximately twenty years ago (Photo 3).

To respond to this demand, the FC-12M incorporates "QMEMS^*3" and high-precision mounting technologies to achieve the ultra-compact dimensions (2.0 x 1.2 x 0.6 mm Max.) – about half the footprint of its predecessor – while maintaining the same performance as the previous model. This new product contributes to further enhancement of mobile products by offering higher-density integration, improved design flexibility, a smaller size, and more advanced functionality.

*3 QMEMS: QMEMS is a combination of "Quartz," a crystalline material with excellent characteristics such as high stability and high precision, and "MEMS" (micro electro mechanical system). QMEMS quartz devices are created using quartz material instead of the semiconductors used by MEMS. We perform precision micro fabrication on the quartz material to offer high performance in a compact package. "QMEMS" is a registered trademark of Epson Toyocom.

Photo 3. Tuning-fork crystal unit downsizes

Note: These products are manufactured and sold by Epson Toyocom.

6. Epson scalar style robot with the unitary packing box made of cardboard

Different-sized robots can be packaged in the same packing box, and, compared to previous items, a 17% size reduction in the volume ratio has been achieved. This contributed to a reduction in environmental impacts, including reductions in materials and reductions in storage space. Foam plastic cushioning material and cardboard packaging that conventionally was oriented horizontally has now all been oriented vertically with cardboard, thus providing a superior recycling feature. Steps have also been devised to enable customers to easily reduce the volume of their packing boxes to a compact size when disposing of them (Photo 4). This effort, too, earned an "Electric Equipment Packaging Category Award" in the 2007 Japan Packaging Contest.

Photo 4. Unitary packing box made of cardboard