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Brother was committed to improving its environmental performance long before being ‘green’ became fashionable in business technology.

The company’s commitment can be seen throughout its product portfolio and all Brother products are engineered to have a low impact on the environment from their creation to the end of their life.

Brother has the rigorous ISO 14001:2004 standard for environmental management systems and is a leader in its field for environmental and social responsibility. The company has also achieved Energy Star and Blue Angel accreditations on many new products for minimising negative environmental impact. Brother consumables have a low environmental impact. By having individual cartridges for colour ink, users get full use out of every colour. The same rules apply with laser technology - choosing equipment with separate drum and toner reduces the wastage that all-in-one supplies are known for.

When cartridges come to the end of their lifecycle, Brother ensures that they can be recycled effectively and efficiently at its state-of-the-art plant in Ruabon inWales. The plant produces zero waste, and is able to recycle 98% of the disposed product’s material.

Brother’s ReNew recycling scheme has doubled the return rate of its toner cartridges over the last two years. The scheme’s success is largely attributable to the inclusion of freepost labels in cartridge boxes and providing downloadable return labels on Brother’s website. This enables end users to return old cartridges quickly and for free. Brother also provides its larger customers that have higher volume printing requirements with bespoke cartridge recycling boxes and free returns. It’s a simple scheme but minimising time spent for the end user has brought about impressive uptake. To ensure that end users’ consumables have the least possible environmental impact, it’s really important to buy originals. With Brother consumables, the end user is getting the best possible quality print results from a company with a sound environmental policy that ensures consumables are fully recycled. Brother came out on top of the 2008 edition of the Good Shopping Guide, published by the Ethical Company Organisation - further cementing its reputation for green technology. The Good Shopping Guide, which looks at the environmental and ethical credentials of technology suppliers to help businesses make a more informed purchase, scored Brother at 100 out of a possible 100 in the report’s ethical company index. This is measured against ten key markers including human rights, political donations and affiliations to the nuclear industry. The company continues to be at the cutting edge

of green initiatives and understands the fact that a manufacturer’s environmental credentials can have a significant bearing on the consumer’s decision to purchase.

This was the second consecutive year that Brother was given the accolade. Mike Dinsdale, communications director at Brother said: “Our commitment to sustainability is deep rooted in Brother’s corporate philosophy. From the earliest stages of product development through to the delivery of our technology to end users, we continually invest in the environmental performance of our business.” Brother is championing better use of printers. The results of a recent study* showed that offices could save the equivalent of a transatlantic flight’s worth of carbon emissions every year if employers were to introduce more efficient use of printers. It found that only 11 per cent of businesses have a clear printing policy and recommends printing on both sides of the paper to slash paper consumption - many Brother office printers have duplex capability and it’s an easy way to reduce costs. The study also showed that more than four tonnes of CO2 is emitted in the production of a year’s worth of paper for the average office. This could be slashed by up to 50 per cent if people had proper training on paper usage and printing efficiently.

Brother’s enthusiasm for having the environment at the core of its outlook will continue moving forward. This will ensure that all processes, from product development to distribution, are as green as they possibly can be. For more information on Brother’s environmental practices, visit

www.brothergreen.co.uk

Green from

the ground up

sustainabletimes 17 www.binfo.co.uk

The use of individually replaceable colour cartridges keeps waste to a minimum

* Brother survey of UK businesses conducted in association with YouGov.

Mike Dinsdale, Communications Director, Brother

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