A few green-related announcements have come my way over the last few days and are worth noting here.
First, Amazon (NASDAQ AMZN), while not strictly a printing and imaging company, had the courage to announce a major business story last week during the flood of attention on the US Presidential Election and its immediate aftermath. The release (see "Amazon Announces Beginning of Multi-Year Frustration-Free Packaging Initiative") points out the multiple objectives the company has in mind, both reducing user frustration with hard-to-open packaging as well as a reduction in packaging waste. See my separate post, "When is getting more than you expected a bad thing?".
Second, and also last week, GreenPrint announced the long-awaited Mac version of their print management software. The Windows-based software has been mentioned at this blog many times, and the Mac companion is a welcome addition to the market. I like seeing they're positioning the "one click PDF" creation as a key feature of the software, and also that the company is continuing to use Scribd.com as the information storehouse for their releases.
And third and last, HP (NYSE HPQ) is out with another of their seemingly steady stream (say that three times) of printer- and supplies-related Green announcements this morning. After covering numerous HP "Green" initiative announcements, I'd say this one, "HP Adds to Customer Convenience, Boosts Efficiency with Recycling Program Expansion", hits on consistent themes. HP and Staples (NASDAQ SPLS) will be joining forces, with HP's usual individual send-back program for toner and ink cartridges now accessible via favorite reseller Staples and a simple walk-in and drop-off process. And with more emphasis on this process, HP will eliminate the inclusion of in-box return envelopes, at least on the ink side. Kudos to HP for seeing the big picture, and finding ways to live the "reduce, reuse, recylce" credo. For example:
HP estimates that if all ink cartridges returned via in-box envelopes in 2008 were instead returned in bulk from authorized retail recycling locations, the amount of shipping materials used would have been reduced by more than 600,000 pounds – enough to fill more than 15 tractor trailers.(1) Additionally, transport efficiency may be improved as cartridges shipped in bulk can be packed more tightly than those shipped individually – with twice as many cartridges fitting in the same amount of space.
(1) Based on a nominal payload of 40,000 pounds; takes into consideration unused envelopes.
Comments
When I was a kid, we returned bottles to grocery stores for $.02. There was no problem with unrecycled bottles, and consumers (and young entrepreneurs) didn't have to struggle to figure out where or how to do business.
It annoys me that companies want me to help their business but can't be bothered to cough up a nickle (let alone what a spent toner cartridge is actually worth) to facilitate the process.