Palo Alto, Calif. — Hewlett-Packard announced a series of environmental goals it hopes to achieve over the next several years, alongside a new printer constructed almost entirely out of recycled materials.
The new “Eco Solutions” program will touch on all aspects of the company’s business, from consumer to commercial products. Starting with four new printers, HP will display an “Eco Highlights” label on its product packaging that provides the environmental attributes of the product.
The company also set out a series of environmental benchmarks it hopes to achieve over the next several years including improving the energy efficiency of its ink and laser printers by 40 percent by 2011; a three-fold increase in the use of recycled materials in its printers by 2010 (with 2007 as the benchmark); and the recovery of 2 billion pounds of computing and printer equipment by 2010, including more than 250 million cumulative inkjet and laser cartridges recycled this year.
HP’s new Deskjet D2545 printer will serve as an early centerpiece of its eco-friendly efforts in consumer products. According to HP, 83 percent of the printer’s plastic weight is made up of recycled materials, as is 100 percent of its outer casing parts and trays.
The ink cartridges are similarly constructed out of recycled plastic from cartridges collected by the company through its Planet Partners program, and from other sources. The unit’s packaging is composed of 100 percent recycled materials.
As for its performance specs, the printer offers up to 26 pages per minute (ppm) print speeds in black and up to 20 ppm in color. It prints at 4,800 dpi and supports borderless photo printing from 4-inch by 6-inch to panorama size. It is shipping now through Wal-Mart for a suggested $44.99.
Starting in 2009, HP will begin to roll out an Auto-On/Auto-Off function onto its printers (starting first with its business oriented LaserJets). The feature will conserve energy by powering off printers when not in use. The company also laid out a policy regarding its procurement and use of paper, which it said would govern its global paper business.