HP Innovation Journal Special Edition: Sustainable Impact | Page 10
legacy of sustainable design by moving from the traditional
linear manufacturing model of “take, make, dispose” to
the more sustainable “make, use, reuse” model of a circular
economy. This strategy places customers at the center of
everything we do and focuses our personnel on finding ways
to keep products and materials in use for as long as possible,
at the highest state of value.
DECOUPLING GROWTH FROM CONSUMPTION
For many people, recycling is the simplest circular economy
concept to understand. The notion that everyday products,
such as soda bottles, can be collected, recycled, and turned
into new bottles is pretty straightforward. But recycling
products, such as PCs, printers, or cartridges, is more complex.
HP has been a recycling leader for decades, developing
innovations that enable us to reduce our products’
environmental impact and meet our customers’ demands to
reduce waste. For example, 26 years ago we launched the HP
Planet Partners return and recycling program, which offers
customers in 74 countries and territories around the world
a convenient and responsible way to recycle their computer
hardware and printing supplies.
Today we are helping divert on average
more than 1 million water bottles per
day from landfills
HP Planet Partners facilitates another ground-breaking
innovation—our closed-loop recycling program that allows
us to use millions of pounds of plastic to create original
ink and toner cartridges. Through this program, we have
manufactured more than 3.8 billion ink and toner cartridges
using more than 99,000 tonnes of recycled content material,
including 784 million returned cartridges, more than 4
billion plastic bottles, and 86 million apparel hangers. Today
we are helping divert on average more than 1 million water
bottles per day from landfills.
And we continue to innovate in the use of closed-loop
plastics. Most recently, in late 2017 we introduced the HP
ENVY Photo 6200, 7100, and 7800 printers, the world’s
first-in-class printers made with closed-loop recycled plastic.
These printers represent what we refer to as “a complete
printing system backed by sustainable design.” In addition
to offering models that have more than 20 percent closed-
loop recycled plastic, these printers use Original HP Ink
cartridges made with 45-70 percent closed-loop recycled
plastic, and customers can use HP paper that contains 100
percent certified fiber or recycled content.
DESIGNING PRODUCTS THAT HAVE LESS IMPACT
But the circular economy is about more than just recycling.
For HP it also means reducing the amount of materials used
in our products and developing materials that have less
environmental impact and more value at end of service.
Innovation Journal Sustainable Impact
For example, the HP Elite Slice is a transformative
innovation that illustrates how we are shifting our personal
systems portfolio toward smaller products that are more
efficient without compromising performance. Designed
for customers looking for a compact yet powerful desktop
solution, the HP Elite Slice is up to 70 percent lighter than
the EliteDesk 800 G2 Small Form Factor (SFF) PC and up to
50 percent more energy efficient than the EliteDesk 800.
And we are working to extend the life of our products by
creating modular designs that are easy to maintain. A prime
example of this design philosophy is the HP Elite x2 1012 G2
tablet, which comes with online repair documentation and
readily available parts. The tablet is so easy to service, that
ifixit.org gave the system a repairability score of nine out of
10—the highest of any tablet in the industry.
MEETING GROWING DEMANDS
That same innovative spirit can be seen in our service-
based solutions, which are helping customers save money
and lower their environmental impact. Solutions such as
Managed Print Services (MPS) and Device as a Service
provide customers with access to the latest technologies,
allowing them to scale up or down as their business grows or
shrinks and ensuring that resources are not wasted through
equipment reuse, refurbishment, or recycling.
Similarly, HP Instant Ink, a web-based subscription service,
uses the Internet of Things (IoT) strategy to ensure that
customers never run out of ink at the wrong time. Through
the service, when a printer detects that it is running low on
ink, it automatically orders new cartridges for direct delivery.
Prepaid envelopes make it easier for customers to return
used cartridges for recycling.
HP Instant Ink provides consumers with both economic and
environmental benefits. For example, consumers can reduce
the cost of ink by up to 50 percent.¹ And since Instant Ink
cartridges have a higher capacity and use less packaging
material than conventional models, consumers can reduce
materials consumption by 57 percent on average per printed
page. At the same time, Instant Ink helps consumers
decrease the carbon footprint of ink purchase and disposal
by 84 percent, reduce energy use by 86 percent, and lower
water usage by 89 percent.²
As we adapt our business models, we keep the environment
in mind. For example, while we continue to reinvent printing,
we also recognize the increased importance to source paper
responsibly. This is one of the reasons that in June 2016,
we set a goal to meet our objective of zero deforestation,
in which all HP brand paper and paper-based product
packaging will be derived from certified and recycled sources
by 2020.³ We have already achieved our goal for HP brand
paper and have developed a packaging supplier performance
plan to drive progress in that area.