Konica Minolta announces new recycling programme

© Kaspars Eberlins – 123RF.com

The programme will allow local clients to reduce their environmental impact by ensuring that toner cartridges and bottles never reach landfill sites and are instead recycled into useful products.

"Some of the plastics used to manufacture printer cartridges can take up to 1,000 years to decompose, leaving more than enough time for their toxic chemicals to spread into the soil and pollute the environment," says Laetitia Coetzer, the special projects manager for Konica Minolta South Africa. "As a local socially and ecologically aware organisation, Konica Minolta South Africa takes its responsibility to the environment around us seriously and seeks out opportunities to make the way we do business more sustainable. Corporate social responsibility is ingrained in our corporate values."

Vegetable pot

"To this end we saw, after months of research and development, the first proto-type of a recycled product in the form of a vegetable and/or herb pot, made from 100% recycled material, was created. The ultimate aim is to distribute these pots to places where planting space is limited and in rural areas, to allow communities the opportunity to create sustainable food gardens."

Even though Konica Minolta's polymerised toner is non-toxic as it is made from plant-based material - and will therefore have no negative impact on the environment - South African legislation classifies printer cartridge waste as hazardous and the company wants to ensure that there is no negative environmental impact whatsoever.

Bins at branches

Over the next three months, the company is committed to delivering recycling bins to all of its branches to make it easy for customers to drop off their used toner bottles. Bins will also be delivered to high volume users which, once full, will be collected by the company, at no cost to either the branch or the customer.

"Since the launch of this project in October 2014 to date, we have recycled in excess of eight tons of toner bottles, cartridges and imaging units. By recycling old printer cartridges, we hope to divert thousands of tons of waste from landfill sites, preserving our environment for future generations," she concludes.