Collection and Recycling (Recycle) | Product Collection and Recycling
Recycling Used Products
Promoting Reuse of Products and Parts
Canon promotes the reuse of used products and parts it has collected from the standpoint of waste reduction and effective resource use. By expanding our activities in this area, Canon's volume of reused products and parts reached 2,389 tons in 2011.
Remanufacturing Copying Machines
Canon has promoted the remanufacturing*1 of copying machines in Japan, the Americas and Europe since 1992.
Canon markets the "Refreshed" series of remanufactured products for the Japanese market.
In the case of the iR C3380F-R digital color MFD, which was launched in 2010, we use our original remanufacturing technologies to thoroughly clean exterior parts, which are normally difficult to reutilize due to their soiled appearance, and achieve an average parts reuse ratio of 84% in terms of weight. The total environmental impact for all stages through manufacturing has been reduced by an average of 80% by CO2 equivalent. Furthermore, according to Japan's Ministry of the Environment guidelines on carbon offsetting and credits, there are zero CO2 emissions associated with this product through the manufacturing stage.*2
This carbon-offset system was also adopted for two digital monochrome multifunction devices (MFDs) that went on sale in 2011.
- *1Remanufacturing
Reproducing products with a level of quality similar to new ones by cleaning and replacing parts after disassembling collected products and sorting reusable parts from worn and deteriorated ones. - *2This means that in theory the CO2 emissions are zero, due to the purchase of a CO2 credit allowance equal to the CO2 emission volume produced through the manufacturing stage.
iR C3380F-R
Recycling Plastics from Used Products for Application in New Canon Products
Canon strives to recycle products and parts that are not suitable for reuse as materials in the manufacture of new products.
Specifically, the physical characteristics of plastic materials can deteriorate over long years of use. However, we determine the strength and moldability required for the intended end use of components and adopt the optimal recycling process to satisfy these criteria.
Plastics collected from Canon products during 2011 for reuse in new products totaled 3,825 tons (including toner cartridges).
We will expand the grades of plastic eligible for recycling in order to increase the amount of recycled plastic.
Recycling of Plastic Materials from Business Machines
Using Recycled Plastic in Calculators and Copying Machines
Canon uses the engineering plastics employed in the exterior casing of used business machines as a substitute for commodity plastics as exterior material for calculators and internal components for copying machines. This is achieved with minimal environmental impact simply by crushing, washing, and removing foreign objects.
We reformulate pellets after crushing, washing and removing foreign objects from these engineering plastics. In this process, original Canon technologies facilitate recovery of strength and flame resistance, so the regenerated materials can once again be utilized in the outer casing of copying machines.
This recycled plastic has been adopted for use in our imageRUNNER ADVANCE series of office network MFDs.
Cord guide, manufactured using recycled plastic, for the imageRUNNER ADVANCE
Using Recycled Plastic in Inkjet Printers
Canon re-pelletizes the commodity plastic used in the paper cassettes from recovered copying machines after crushing, washing and removing foreign objects from it. This is incorporated in raw plastic materials to upgrade our engineering plastic. Doing so increases its value as recycled material, enabling its use as inkjet printer power supply box covers, which must be made from flame-resistant plastic. It was used in the power supply box covers for all inkjet printers sold in 2011.
Canon will continue to actively seek new uses for recycled plastic.
