HP cartridges: e-waste disaster?
AlterNet reported today that HP needs to do more to tackle the growing problem of e-waste. Statistics from Lyra Research indicate that HP produces more than half of the 500 million inkjet and 75 million laser cartridges sold annually in HP’s e-cycling (or electronic recycling) process allows customers to drop their empties in the post, free of charge. New cartridges come equipped with a postage-paid shipping label or green mailer envelope. The programme has already recycled 143 million cartridges worldwide, leading Fortune Magazine to herald HP as a ‘green giant’ earlier this year. But there are cracks in HP's e-cycling façade, wide enough for environmental watchdogs like Greenpeace to be concerned and for recycling alternatives to emerge. This past July, HP met its goal for recycling one billion pounds of electronic products six months ahead of schedule. According to Jean Gingras, HP's Environmental Marketing Manager for In September, Greenpeace released the latest instalment of its quarterly ‘Guide to Greener Electronics’, in which HP ranked among the bottom of 15 companies in the quest to go green. The report contended that among HP's more heinous crimes against the planet is its failure to eliminate vinyl plastics (PVCs) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from its products. These hazardous materials are virtually impossible to recycle and are highly detrimental to the environment. Both PVCs and BFRs can be found in printers and printer cartridges. Iza Kruszewska, a Greenpeace International Toxics Campaigner, said that BFRs can be found in the green circuit boards on cartridges. While BFRs and PVCs can certainly be found in the cartridges of other companies as well, HP bears the burden of producing the largest number of cartridges currently available. To date, HP has no products available that are PVC-free or BFR-free, nor has HP issued a timetable for eliminating all uses of PVCs or BFRs from its products. Gingras claimed that, over the past decade, HP has removed 95 percent of BFRs and PVCs from its products. She also insisted that no components of its recycled cartridges end up in landfill. But others, like Rick Hind, the Legislative Director of Greenpeace's Toxic Campaign, disagrees. “Those materials have to go somewhere. There's no safe disposal of PVCs or BFRs, in the same way you can't dispose of radioactive material," he said. While to some, removing 95 percent of BFRs and PVCs is impressive, the sheer volume of cartridges HP produces means that there are still too many products out there containing these hazardous materials. In Reduce, reuse, recycle It is not just the chemicals in HP's products that are of concern, but also their recycling. Recycling printer cartridges consists of reducing the empty cartridges down to raw materials that are then used to manufacture new plastic or metal products. HP uses these materials to create auto body parts, clothes hangers, roof tiles, spools, and serving trays, along with many other products. HP even sells a scanner made from 25 percent recycled inkjet cartridge plastic and 75 percent recycled plastic bottles. This is a more lucrative approach to the problem of e-waste than remanufacturing. It avoids any logistical costs involved in remanufacturing and ensures that the consumer is obliged to buy new cartridges at full price.