Quocirca: Print industry must promote remanufactured goods programmes

The pressure on print vendors to both deliver green products and follow sustainability strategies internally has continued to rise over the course of the year.

Quocirca print sustainability leaders study 2024 revealed that customer expectations around vendor performance on green metrics had increased and, in response, the industry had improved its position on circularity and emission reductions.

Most vendors already have established remanufactured and take-back programmes, with millions of toners already being captured before hitting landfill. But the market watcher’s report noted that there had been increased expansion in 2024 even around those programmes.

At the same time, the percentage of recycled plastic content in new devices has been increasing, with some vendors reaching levels of more than  50% of recycled material in their printers.

As well as increasing the sustainability initiatives around the creation and recycling of products, vendors have stepped up their own focus on reducing carbon emissions. Quocirca charted a rise in the use of renewable energy across the industry, with some at 100% and others well on that way, investing in solar panels and investigating supplier choices.

The majority of vendor has publicly shared net-zero carbon targets, with those efforts contributing to sustainability improvements over the course of 2024.

Quocirca highlighted the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) across the print industry to help support sustainability efforts, with the technology supporting managed print services and optimisation for customers.

Perhaps the most impressive revelation from the Quocirca report was the industry’s commitment to recycling and remanufacturing when customer priorities were focused elsewhere. The market watcher found the top priorities for customers when evaluating products on sustainability terms were energy consumption, device longevity, and sustainable ink or toner.

“It is encouraging to see innovation and continuing momentum around the pursuit of sustainability in the print sector, especially in the application of artificial intelligence to key challenges. Remanufacturing is growing as a focus too, despite Quocirca research showing that it is not yet a top priority for customers,” said Quocirca CEO Louella Fernandes.

“Vendors can do more to raise awareness of the high-quality performance of genuine remanufactured and refurbished devices, and the measurable reduction in their environmental impact compared to new devices,” she added.

Quocirca’s report also encouraged vendors to keep going on the sustainability front, with more work to be done by the channel.

The market watcher said that the majority of vendors had channel-enablement programmes and these were vital if the sustainability efforts made by the industry were going to be communicated effectively to users, but there was still a need for many to build a clearer proposition for partners to share.

Epson is an example of the work being done in the print industry, with the firm recently sharing its 2023/2024 European sustainability report. The vendor reached a 100% plastic-free status for all point-of-sale marketing materials, cut business travel emissions by 19%, and optimised deliveries from Asia-based factories to get to an estimated 10–50% reduction in CO₂ emissions per container.

“As a Japanese company, we have a profoundly deep-rooted respect for nature and sustainable practices,” said Takanori Inaho, president at Epson Europe. “We have always been guided by the principle of sho sho sei [compact, efficient, precise], which represents the commitment to continuous improvement behind the development of our world-leading compact, efficient, precise product technology.

“Our latest ESG report emphasises how we are applying this same, meticulous care and thought into how our proprietary technologies can be developed to contribute to practical, scalable climate solutions. We fully recognise our responsibility to mitigate the impact we have on the planet, and we’re deeply committed to finding ways for our pioneering technology to be used creatively to solve some of the most urgent environmental issues confronting the world,” he added.