The Recycler - Three Rs

Three R’s to sustainability:
Changing our way of life
Reuse, Remanufacture, Recycle. Three simple words with many
definitions and interpretations. Individually, they are a behaviour
which contributes to the goal of creating a more sustainable way of
life and use of finite resources. Collectively, they are a process, a route
map to the same sustainability goal.
▲ Peter Mayhew Director & Senior
Analyst, Lightwords Imaging
Let’s first check our vocabulary. Dictionaries
define Reuse as “using something again”
while Recycle is the “conversion of waste
into something else”. Remanufacture
though is to “refurbish a used product
by renovating and reassembling its
components”. Just one more, Sustainability;
“a way that maintains something at a certain
rate or level”.
Environmental evidence
There is strong evidence that sustainability
in the context of depletion of natural
resources on Earth, is important. We
should also consider sustainable economic
growth and equally, global environmental
sustainability. 2019 was the second warmest
year on record, greenhouse gasses in the
atmosphere also rose to new record levels.
The 2015 Paris Agreement was designed
to strengthen the global response to
climate change. Implementation is “workin-progress”,
but the motivation exists to
save energy, prevent pollution, save natural
resources, and reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
Many organisations are tracking changes
in the planets’ climate. NASA report that
Carbon Dioxide levels at 415 parts per
million are the highest in 650 million years,
2019 was the second warmest year on record, greenhouse
gasses in the atmosphere also rose to new record levels.
global temperature is now 2.0 degrees
Fahrenheit higher than in 1880 and 19 of the
20 warmest years have occurred since 2001,
we are losing Polar ice at a rate of 428 billion
metric tons per year, that’s about 13% per
decade. As a result, sea levels are rising at a
rate of 3.3 mm per year. Not much, but over
the last 100 years that is 178 mm.
It is not just Nasa who point to the warming
of the Earth’s climate, there is also strong
scientific consensus (see figure 1) Why?
The likely cause is human activity.
F.1 Yearly temperature anomalies from 1880-2019
2021

Change for the better
Changing human behaviour is not easy.
Psychologists cite the Fogg Behaviour Model
which identifies behaviour as composed of
motivation, ability, and triggers. When all
three occur in the correct sequence, change
is most likely to occur.
Governments role is critical in setting
agenda’s which lead to behavioural change.
The European Union recognises this
responsibility through its EU Circular
Action Plan and EU Green Deal. A package
of legislative and non-legislative measures
and actions the EU can take to add value
and provide a roadmap to achieving climate
neutrality in the region.
Their scope is broad, considering the entire
life cycle of products including design,
manufacture, consumption, repair, reuse,
recycling and returning resources back
to the environment and economy. They
contain specific targets including, doubling
circular material use in a decade. The EU
estimates that these initiatives will increase
its GDP by 0.5% by 2030 and create
700,000 jobs.
Specifically, the Action Plan and Green
Deal will look at Eco-Design reaching
beyond energy savings into product
sustainability, right to repair, durability,
reusability, upgradability, repairability
and waste. The use of hazardous chemicals
also falls within their scope. Their target
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
is one of the largest sustainability problems
facing the planet.
markets include Electronics, Information
and Communications Technology, Textiles,
Plastics, Construction and Buildings,
Packaging, Batteries, Vehicles and Food.
Waste is a huge problem for the EU.
The plan and deal address waste creation,
target setting, extending producer
responsibilities, and restricting exports.
To achieve its goals the EU has put in place
supporting funds, financing, a Circular
Economy Alliance, monitoring frameworks
and indicators. The EU estimates that
over €500 billion ($615 billion) will be
invested over the next 10 years in the “green
economy” but, some money is re-allocated
existing budgets and expenditure.
One initiative is the €80 billion ($98
billion), EU Horizon 2020 Research
and Innovation Program which aims to
encourage a package of eco-innovative
services. It is an initiative leveraged by
Lexmark through its C-Servees Project.
C-Servees is a consortium of industries
and academia sharing best practice and
boosting the shared use, reuse, repair and
remanufacture of products through their
eco-design and implementation of productservice
systems. Updating The Recycler on
the status of the project Lexmark’s Head
of Government Affairs EMEA, Maxime
Furkel said: ”The project has now passed
the half way stage and the exchange of ideas
and cooperation from engineers, suppliers
and life cycle experts from a wide range of
diverse industries have been very beneficial
for Lexmark.”
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The impact of WEEE
and WEEE2
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
is one of the largest sustainability problems
facing the planet. In 2006 most EU states
transposed the WEEE Directive and
regulations into law. The regulations
separated WEEE into two categories; first
is WEEE placed on the market before
2005 where the onus is on the owner to
manage its recycling and second, WEEE
produced later, where the producer and/or
distributor has the collection and recycling
responsibility.
The 2014 WEEE 2 directive laid down
certification criteria to demonstrate
that companies are complying with the
regulations. These regulations provide
frameworks for how end-of-use products
are managed at the end of their lifecycle.
They also encourage recycling and reuse.
The scope encompassing everything from
household appliances to IT equipment
to medical devices. Certification is now
mandatory for many electronic devices.
Non-compliance could result in an
EU wide market bar. Pollution of the
environment carries significant fines.
There are numerous takeback schemes
in action today which vary depending
upon whether we are discussing business
or consumer WEEE. Revenue streams
accompanying the WEEE also vary
between B2B and B2C channels and EU
countries. The B2C advice if the product
features the WEEE symbol (see figure 2) is
to check with the local authority, product
manufacturer and distributor to establish
the correct collection channel. In a B2B
scenario, do not expect to take it to the
local household recycling center, they are
likely to turn you away.
F.2 WEEE Symbol
F.3 China Consumers Electronics Replacement Habits
China has the lowest percentage of consumers replacing devices less frequently
but the highest number of consumers who plan to implement
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
US China India Germany
Already replacing
less frequently
Letting go: Reuse in the
ICT sector
Some electronic products have a value that
cannot be measured in financial terms only.
Humans develop emotional attachments
which means we habitually store products
at the end of their life, rather than return or
dispose of them into the WEEE stream.
A study by Alphawise, the proprietary
survey and data arm of Morgan Stanley
Research found that almost 50% of
consumers keep electronic devices that have
stopped working. The study also found
that trade-in and recycling is on the rise in
the consumer market and, that almost 80%
of respondents intend to either repair or,
have repaired their devices in the next two
years. A consequence is that consumers are
extending the lifetime of devices and, 60%
are buying new devices less frequently.
The repair or replace conundrum
varies around the world. Figure 3 shows
consumers in China have been behind in
replacing their devices less frequently than
others but, 90% of Chinese respondents
plan to slow their rate of replacement.
Finally, the Alphawise study revealed
that cash remains the greatest incentive
to encourage consumers to trade-in. It is
estimated that there are billions of Euros of
older, serviceable mobile phones in homes.
Most manufacturers offer a generous
trade-in against new models but take-back
is low. A quick and unscientific study of the
Planning to replace
less frequently
UK
No plans
Source: Alphawise, Morgan Stanley Research
author’s own home embarrassingly found
four, old but usable mobiles.
Getting this waste into reuse by
remanufacturing before recycling is a
problem. Numerous surveys demonstrate
that consumers want to rethink their
behaviour in a more sustainable way. One
survey by Capgemini revealed that 79% of
German buyers are ready to change.
But how? The answer may come from
an unlikely source, Value Added Tax
(VAT). It has been suggested by several
environmental groups including the Green
Alliance, that reducing VAT on repairs
would keep products in use for longer and
create employment. Evidence from several
EU country trials found encouraging
results. In Sweden, when they reduced
repair VAT, they countered the lost revenue
with an increased tax on hazardous waste.
It is possible that the problem is broader
than motivation to reuse or recycle.
Economically, there is a need to separate
the use of resources from economic growth
and, to separate environmental impact from
resource use. But these are social norms
which may take regional, and probably
global events to spark change.
Measuring progress is important and the
EU has a target of collecting 65% of WEEE
placed on the market. A target missed by
the UK and many other member states in
2018. Even defining the collection goals in
measurable tonnage terms has been difficult
to achieve.
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Rare metals and toxic WEEE
Another incentive to recover WEEE is the
quantity of precious metals it contains.
E-waste such as laptops, mobile phones and
monitors contain some of the Earths rarest
natural resources, Gold, Neodymium and
Indium. Although combined they account
for 0.00001% of this planets crust, they
play a critical role in the connectivity and
displays of devices.
Neodymium and indium are not only rare,
but they are only found in certain parts
of the world where the supply chains are
insecure. This makes their recovery from
waste more critical. Recovery is feasible,
but not straight forward. The ecological
A consequence is that consumers are extending
the lifetime of devices and, 60% are buying new
devices less frequently.
case for recovering Neodymium is clear;
when the material is obtained from a
recycling process the overhead on the
environment is a third less than if it were
mined from the earth.
Recovering Indium from disassembled
LCD screens is similarly worth the effort.
However, the quantities involved are
small both in devices and in the world.
Consequently, their monetary value is low
making the recovery process economically
questionable.
Shipping older devices from developed to
developing markets may be sustainably
problematic. From a reuse perspective,
the life of the product is extended but,
the environmental cost of transportation
needs to be considered. Further, at end of
life, disposal in some countries is as crude
as open burning of the waste.
A substantial proportion of WEEE is
plastic and the burning process releases
both useful energy and harmful gasses
to the atmosphere. Energy recovery and
emission treatment is essential to the
sustainability argument. It also makes
sense to keep devices with high content
in use and functioning rather than losing
these resources to bottom ash (residual
waste from the energy-from-waste
processes) or landfill forever.
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The document
printing market
If you review the websites of the
major industry OEMs you will find
manufacturers are trying to produce in a
sustainable manner. Most have invested in
“green” factories with measurable energy
efficiency and emissions control gains.
Some take important steps to ensure that
the products they produce are collected and
disposed of in a responsible manner.
For example, Canon has collected and
recycled 408,000 tonnes of cartridges in a
28-year period to 2018. To acknowledge
reuse, Canon has also reduced its reliance
on new materials by 285,000 tonnes.
Ricoh in Japan apparently collects 115,000
machines from across the region. And
Epson claims the 50 million units sold of
its eco-tank printers has saved a “potential”
1.1 million tonnes of plastic based
consumables.
It is in reuse and remanufacturing where
the aftermarket excels. There may be
high expectations that a recent European
Voluntary Agreement initiative may help
to reinforce the “remanufacturing”
element of the printing supplies
aftermarket but, “voluntary” may not be
A substantial proportion of WEEE is plastic and
the burning process releases both useful energy
and harmful gasses to the atmosphere.
sufficient or timely enough to comply
with the mood in Brussels.
Late in November 2020, European MEP’s
voted positively for a resolution which calls
on the European Commission to make it
easier for consumers to repair, resell and
reuse products, specifically to improve
sustainability. They want to tackle activities
which shorten the life of products, an area
where the document printing market has a
questionable reputation.
This positive decision may also be good
news for ETIRA President, Javier Martinez
who, in a pre-vote interview, commented
that he would like to see “Proper
Regulation” of the document printing
industry. He went further to say that he
would like to see “WEEE, ROHS and
product compliance regulations enforced.”
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020
has caused the world to unite and fight
a common viral problem. The global
reaction has had both positive and negative
outcomes. One positive effect has been
that of reducing human activity and
consequently emissions of greenhouse
gasses have fallen. However, the rate at
which humans are using technology has
accelerated, advancing its penetration into
all aspects of life by several years, causing
demand for devices to increase.
The most positive consequence has
been that environmental awareness has
been heightened and environmental
sustainability strategies and policies are
now seen as a viable method of creating
economic growth and employment.
The opportunity now exists for reuse,
remanufacturing and recycling to become
mainstream activities and permanently
embed themselves in the document
printing industry. ■
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