XBM & Sustainability
Companies are increasingly being held to account for their business practices, beliefs, and profits and rejected by customers if they are not taking a stand on social and environmental issues.
As XBM has grown, so too has our belief that we need to play our part, whether it is in local issues, social inclusion, or the environment.
There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate and that human activity is the principal cause of the excess emissions that trap the heat around our planet, leading to changes in our climate that are already making life for humans and other species increasingly dificult.
Sustainability definitions vary widely depending on who you are talking too, their own priorities and possibly even the vested interests they might be influenced by. Speaking in general terms, sustainability is a societal goal that broadly aims for humans to safely co-exist with other species and our environment on planet Earth over a long period of time.
Sustainability presumes that resources are finite, and should be used conservatively and wisely with a view to long-term priorities and consequences of the ways in which resources are used. In simplest terms, sustainability is about the world we leave for our children and our grandchildren.
A Circular Economy
The concept of a circular economy is a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution.
Through recycling and reuse, new products can be made from existing materials and natural resources conserved, better still, left where they are.
Many of our suppliers are working towards a circular economy, using recycled metals and plastics in their devices, as well as moving their energy use from carbon based sources to renewables.
UN Sustainable Development Goals
XBM aligns with the United Nations aims expressed through the UN Sustainable Development Goals, specifically goal 13 on Climate Action, and the environmental actions required by the The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact.
Click on the Climate Action icon to read more.
The Problem with Print
Although estimates suggest that global print is accountable for 1% and the ICT sector, 6% of all carbon emissions, this adds up to a staggering amount in real terms. (Cool Climate Network based at UC Berkeley)
For example, taking the UK government’s conversion factors for carbon emissions, just 100,000 sheets of A4 paper has a carbon footprint of 6,000kg and requires eight trees and 2,000kWh of energy. The same paper recycled seven times produces 3,200kg of carbon over its lifetime.
Further more, UNESCO estimated that manufacturing one sheet of A4 paper could take up to 13 Litres, depending on how much of the source material is from recycling. Think how many sheets you use in the printer, copier, and notebooks everyday and how much water was consumed in its production.
(https://waterfootprint.org/media/downloads/Report46-WaterFootprintPaper_1.pdf)
XBM Customers
Increasingly, our customers are ranking sustainability as a buying criteria, and often it is placed as highly as the traditional big three, price, function, and service. For customers, there are three areas of sustainability that may impact their choice:
- How sustainable was the design and build of this device or solution?
- How sustainable is it to run this device or solution?
- Will it reduce my Carbon Footprint
XBM Partners
XBM works with a number of manufacturers and solution providers who have chosen to make sustainability a high priority in their businesses, both in how devices and solutions are designed and built, but also how they perform and deliver in the field.
This latter criteria can include criteria such as energy usage, which also impacts the cost of the energy to the customer, and the amount of waste consumables the device or solution generates. Both contribute to a business or organisation's Carbon Footprint and sustainability.
Ecologi
XBM works with Ecologi, which aims to make it so easy for individuals, businesses, and organisations to actively make a difference.
According to Ecologi, there are enough climate solutions out there right now that, if we supported them, could undo 30 years of carbon damage by avoiding 1,500 billion tonnes of CO2.
So far, Ecologi has planted over 47 million trees. Click the Ecologi icon to see the projects they support.
Carbon Offsetting Projects
Ecologi works through a number of projects, including planting forest gardens in Tanzania, planting trees and supporting water security in Kenya, generating renewable solar electricity in Egypt, and supporting the first ever wind power project in Honduras.
XBM Plants 165 Trees for Each Installed Solution
Planting trees is an established action we can take right now, and XBM, as Epson’s largest UK reseller, plants 165 trees, through Ecologi’s programme, for each Epson solution we sell.
Epson
Epson awarded XBM Platinum Partner status based on a comprehensive set of criteria including product focus, expertise, sales, and the level of support we provide for our customers. We are one of only two Platinum Partners in the UK. XBM chose to partner with Epson because their Workforce range of printers and multifunction devices use Epson’s own HEAT-FREE Business Inkjet Technology that requires neither a drum that can wear out, nor any heat, reducing both energy consumption and consumable waste.
EcoVadis Platinum Award Ranks Epson in Top 1%
EcoVadis awarded Epson their coveted Platinum award for the second year running. The platinum rating was awarded in recognition of Epson's global sustainability initiatives. In the four themes assessed by EcoVadis, Epson received high scores for the environment, sustainable procurement, labour and human rights, and ethics, putting it in the top 1% of companies in the industry.
HEAT-FREE Print Technology
Epson's HEAT-FREE Business Inkjet Technology provides users with substantial advantages in terms of reduced energy costs, lower consumable waste generated, increased productivity, and much lower manual intervention required. As there is no waiting time for a drum to heat up, Epson's WorkForce printers print up to 50% faster compared to a comparable laser printer.
Lower Consumable Waste
Epson RIPS ink cartridges provide a higher yield, resulting in less than half the ink related consumable replacement volumes over a contract term in comparison to laser technology. Neither do Epson’s Business Inkjet printers require drums/fusers, reducing the number of replacement items, packaging, and storage.
Lower Energy Consumption Saves Money too
A desktop laser device consumes over a kilowatt (1,000 watts) when heating the fuser before starting to print, whereas an Epson device will use less than 30 watts.
As Epson devices do not require a warm up routine before they start printing, when assessed alongside a comparable laser device, they:
- Use up to 83% less energy
- Produce up to 96% less consumable waste
- Have near Zero Ozone emissions
- Have lower CO2 emissions
- Start printing sooner
- Are up to 50% faster
- Provide increased productivity
Kyocera
In 1991, the manufacturer established the ‘Kyocera Environmental Charter’ to reduce the company’s impact on the environment throughout the entire value chain. All Kyocera operations are now focused on three main areas:
- Green Products
- Green Factories
- Green Communication.
Sustainability by Design
Within Kyocera Document Solutions, innovation has intensified to focus upon longevity, 3R design (reduction, reuse and recycling of components) and low power consumption. Kyocera’s long life ceramic imaging drum technology reduces the number of components in the toner system by more than 85% on average, consequently reducing the manufacturing and recycling impact of the device.
- Up to 30% of the plastics used in Kyocera products are recycled, and over 99% is recyclable.
- All new Kyocera print devices are compliant with the new Energy Star 3.0 standard
- 99% of Kyocera products are officially designated ‘Green Products'
- Kyocera has held the ISO 14001 environment certification for over 20 years
- Kyocera Group is part of the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative
- The company has won the Japanese Environment Ministry’s ‘Commendation for Global Warming Prevention’ for each of the last 8 years.
Inovation & Recycling
Kyocera’s expertise in ceramics and advanced production techniques has vastly improved image drum durability, while drastically reducing cartridge build complexity.
- Kyocera’s PSLP (Positive-charged Single Layer Photoconductor) drum technology delivers over 10 times the lifespan of a standard drum and requires one-third of the manufacturing energy to produce
- Amorphous Silicon (a-Si) multilayer technology to produce drums with a serviceable life of more than 600,000 pages
- Toner cartridges are now made from as few as eight parts, all plastic, all recyclable.
Eco-Friendly Toner
Kyocera has developed its own eco-friendly toner (i-toner) utilising advanced production methods that use no organic solvents and very little water to minimise its environmental impact. Its unique structure enables low-temperature fusing and long-term stability. Toner fusing accounts for around 70% of the total power consumption of a print device, but because i-toner can fuse at 30 °C cooler than conventional toner, total energy usage is cut by up to half. Low energy consumption.
Kyocera Partner with PrintReleaf
Kyocera have had a high sense of social conscience ever since their inception and are now taking action to offset their entire UK operation's carbon footprint by working with PrintReleaf to reforest their paper use and by funding carbon-reducing projects around the world. As the trees grow, they'll provide new habitats for wildlife and absorb carbon from the atmosphere.
Carbon Offsetting Projects
The projects Kyocera is supporting includes those in:
- Kenya - Reducing the amount of firewood used for cooking in Siaya County with locally manufactured stoves.
- Nepal - Switching wood fires with biogas for cooking, preserving forests and improving people's health.
- Madagascar - Supporting the manufacture and distribution of efficient cookers and climate-friendly solar cookers.
PaperCutMF
PaperCut has been crafting industry-leading printer software for over 20 years. Today, the PaperCut suite of print management products reduces paper waste and saves trees for 115 million users across 195 countries.
PaperCutMF’s Environmental Dashboard shows at a glance how many trees users have consumed as paper, and reports can show trends in printing habits, down to each individual user or printer. This information can be used to both decide on revisions to print policy and rules, and reported back to users to help initiate positive changes in behaviour.
By the end of 2020, across all PaperCut customers, the Hold/Release function had held back 3,415,929,026 sheets. Of that 3.4 billion held, only 1.063 billion were released, this gives us a total of 2.337 billion sheets saved, equating to approximately 280,451 trees!
PaperCutMF Policy and Management Functions
PaperCut MF enables the creation of eco-friendly policies to help you use less paper, save on toner, recover costs, and make sustainable habits the status quo across your print fleet.
Set Policies and Rules:
PaperCutMF’s built-in or customized print policies and routing rules can be used to encourage or even force users to use duplex (double-sided) printing. This simple change can reduce paper wastage and costs with little or no user impact.
Set Print Quotas & Reports:
Manage costs easily by implementing assigned ‘accounts’ based on departments or projects. Charging departments for their print quickly centres the mind come budget discussions. This is just one of the many functions enabled by PaperCutMF’s extensive reporting capabilities.
Zero Uncollected Print Jobs Reduces Paper Wasted:
Make the overflowing recycling bin a thing of the past with Secure Print Release. Up to 12% of print jobs are uncollected, but within the PaperCutMF management application, you can set a print release policy that holds print jobs until the user steps up to the device and inputs their personal code to release the prints they requested. No code, no unwanted prints for the recycle bin.
PaperCut Grows
As stated above, Papercut has prevented waste and saved trees, but have always been on the lookout for how to solve the second half of the print equation: after reducing waste, how do we directly invest in the environment when we press print?
PaperCut is now solving that problem with their Forest Positive printing program, PaperCut Grows. Available with flagship solutions PaperCut MF and PaperCut Hive, joining PaperCut Grows means businesses can more than replace the trees used to make the paper for their essential hardcopy documents.
Now, pressing print with PaperCut means you’re planting trees.
Ricoh
Ricoh has been driving innovation for over 80 years, and is a leading provider of document management solutions, IT services, commercial and industrial printing, digital cameras, and industrial systems. They have committed to reducing 63% of all direct greenhouse gas emissions from their manufacturing sites, offices and vehicles by 2030 and 100% by 2050.
Ricoh Joins RE100 & Reduces Emissions
In April 2017, Ricoh became the first Japanese company to join RE100 – a collaborative group made up of the world's most influential businesses committed to using 100% renewable electricity. Its efforts are already yielding gratifying results. Greenhouse gas emissions were down 36.5% in fiscal 2020 (anticipated 42.5% in fiscal year 2021) compared with 2015. 31 Ricoh Group companies across 24 countries have already switched to 100% renewable energy. Electricity used for production of flagship A3 MFPs was entirely derived from renewables in the summer of 2019.
Low Typical Electricity Consumption (TEC)
Ricoh’s intelligent devices have one of the lowest energy consumption levels in the industry, both in Typical Electricity Consumption (TEC) and actual power consumption. Default Auto Off timer setting lowers power consumption, running costs and carbon footprint when the device is not active, while quick recovery times make sure there is no impact on your productivity.
Resource Smart
Resource Smart offerings allow your business to optimise waste management and re-use valuable resources, to cut costs and reduce environmental harm. Ricoh's latest range of MFP's are 65% lighter and 37% smaller than the previous models, with Resource Smart savings designed in right from the start.
Sharp
Sharp too is committed to environmental sustainability and corporate responsibility. Sharp Printers, MFPs and Digital Displays adhere to the Sharp Corporation Green Products Guidelines, which requires designing products that consume less power, use recycled materials, and reduce materials used in packaging.
Sharp MFPs are EPEAT® registered, and the Sharp Essentials Series models are ENERGY STAR® 3.0 qualified and RoHS compliant. These products also have one of the lowest Total Energy Consumption (TEC) values in their category as well as one of the lowest stand-by power consumption ratings.
Recyclable and Safe
Sharp design products that are easy to disassemble and use easy to recycle materials. Sharp products can be used and disposed of safely. We do not use substances that negatively impact people's health or the environment.
Green Materials and Devices
Sharp design products that use green materials and devices. We use recycled materials and biomass-based plastics.
Energy Saving
Products with superb energy-saving or energy creating performance improve the efficiency and reduce the energy consumption of products. Sharp MFPs have one of the lowest stand-by power consumption ratings.
Resource Conservation
Our products are designed to conserve resources and reduce the amount of materials used in order to extend the life span of products.