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www.printitreseller.co.uk Print.IT Reseller
Love them or loathe them, carbon
offsets are a popular way for
businesses to demonstrate their
environmental credentials.
The latest Kyocera Mita environmental
survey by Loudhouse Research shows
that carbon offsetting is a key element of
corporate environmental strategies, with
60% of procurement managers and 56%
of IT managers claiming that their business
has applied carbon offsets to some
activities at a team or departmental level.
For print resellers, carbon offsets are
clearly a potential revenue generator and
where appropriate a source of commercial
advantage.
To capitalise on end user demand
for corporate offsets a number of printer
manufacturers have now added carbon
offsets to their portfolio, either built into
the acquisition costs of an MFD or as a
bolt-on solution to be calculated on an
individual basis.
One of the most high profle initiatives
is the Carbon Zero scheme for Toshiba
printers and MFPs, which is now being
extended to other Toshiba products such
as point of sale equipment. Under this
programme, Toshiba has offset all carbon
emissions associated with the manufacture,
distribution and lifetime use of its printers
and MFPs, enabling resellers to market its
products as Carbon Zero.
Resellers are freed from the burden
and expense of carbon footprinting and
because the cost is spread over the lifetime
of the device its impact on the cost per
page is negligible. Meanwhile, customers
can enjoy all the PR benefts of carbon zero
printing, without having to do anything to
make their practices more sustainable.
Toshiba marketing manager Jeremy
Spencer believes the scheme has helped
Toshiba and its resellers stand out from the
competition.
“We have defnitely picked up
incremental business on the back of
it. In what is a fairly busy, competitive
landscape, it’s a key differentiator. It's a
big draw for customers who are driven by
being green and for those who are looking
to add to their green credentials,” he said.
Carbon positive
Production printing specialist Océ has
had carbon neutral printers in its range
since October 2007 when it introduced
the CarbonPositivePlus+ scheme for the
VarioPrint 6000 series in partnership with
Shining Earth, the sustainability division of
Delta-Simons Environmental Consultants.
This goes further than most initiatives by
offsetting operational carbon emissions by
200%.
Gareth Pickles, Managing Director of
Delta-Simons Environmental Consultants,
which carries out carbon footprinting for
Océ under its Shining Earth brand, said:
“We worked out the operational carbon
footprint of a machine by analysing its
energy performance, typical shift patterns,
likely applications, choice of media etc.
and multiplied it by the number of years a
machine will be in the feld. This gave us
an operational carbon footprint that we
offset 200%. Even with a 5-10% margin
for error, there is no question that these
machines are operationally beyond carbon
neutral,” he said.
One hundred and ffty per cent of each
machine’s operational carbon footprint is
offset with verifed carbon standard offsets
from the CarbonNeutral Company, with
the remaining 50% invested in ‘Woodland
Carbon’- UK afforestation with The
Woodland Trust.
“People talk negatively about planting
trees as carbon offsets and question
what happens if the trees die,” explained
Pickles. “But these offsets are now
available through a Government approved
certifcation scheme – The Woodland
Carbon Code, in which the Woodland Trust
played an instrumental development role.
The code takes into account how much
CO2 you get from a new forest based on
a different mix of species, consideration
of leaf litter; what kind of land/soil it’s
planted on; how you can guarantee it will
be there in 20+ years’ time; and whether
it's additional, as well as measures to
account for tree loss. We have worked with
Woodland Trust because we know they are
taking a lead in this area.”
Pickles says that although its benefts
are intangible and hard to quantify, he has
21
carbon neutral printing
Below Zero
As six out of 10 procurement managers state that they
employ carbon offsets in in some shape or form,
PrintIT Reseller looks at how printer manufacturers are
using them to give their products extra appeal
Ricoh offset
unavoidable
printer-related
emissions at
the 2011 Ricoh
Women’s British
Open golf
championship
Since introducing Océ’s Carbon Positive
Plus+ scheme, Shining Earth has offset
8693 tonnes of CO2, partly through the
planting of nearly 10,000 trees in the
Woodland Trust’s Goltho Wood, Lincolnshire
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