Sustainability is all the rage, but it’s much more than just a trend. With the growing awareness around climate change and the environment, consumers are demanding that companies step up and do their part.
However, finding vendors and manufacturers who are truly dedicated to sustainability in their business model can be tough. Whether it’s scrutinizing the supply chain or choosing recycled packaging materials, companies struggle to achieve and prove the authenticity of their commitment to sustainability. It’s simply difficult to tell whether a product has truly sustainable origins.
DSI has made sustainability a focus since its inception as a remanufactured toner reseller. As a result, our experts take care to curate partnerships with vendors that share a similar vision for their business and the future. Companies looking to work with vendors and manufacturers which emphasize sustainability need to look no further. Here are the top three manufacturers dedicated to sustainability, and exactly what they’re doing to prove it.
Sustainability is a buzzword, but it’s one that companies can’t really get away with giving lip service to the concept. To embrace sustainability means to reconsider business processes, supply chains, office habits, and even product design. Here are three vendors in the print market doing exactly that.
For Clover Technologies Group, one of the premier business solutions providers in the world, sustainability is an integral part of their identity. Since day one, they’ve emphasized remanufacturing office technology and supplies to reclaim as much reusable material as possible which would otherwise go to waste. Their eco-services run the gamut of responsibly recycled toner cartridges to software designed to help companies cut waste.
Each year, Clover releases a sustainability report which documents exactly how far their efforts have gone. Check out these impressive numbers. In 2018, Clover and its partners:
● Diverted 42.5 million printer cartridges from the landfill.
● Assisted with the planting of 407,770 trees through PrintReleaf’s reforestation program.
● Decreased their miles per shipment for supplies and equipment by 6.6 percent.
Clover embraces sustainability from supply chain to product, showing that it’s possible to be both profitable and environmentally responsible. DSI proudly partners with Clover to deliver responsible, sustainable office solutions that drive productivity and a commitment to green business.
Konica Minolta, which made a name for itself with innovative, sleek, high-output printers, considers sustainability to be a “part of its DNA.” For Konica Minolta, sustainability is about much more than simply reducing an office’s carbon footprint or recycling as much as possible. While these are certainly major elements of their philosophy, this company has also repeatedly shown a commitment to human rights and ethical sourcing.
In 2018, Konica Minolta won the 2018 Human Rights Award for Business in Australia. Each year, they make a human rights position statement that reaffirms their commitment to ethical sourcing that is free of forced labor, conflict resources, and environmentally harmful practices.
The company’s sustainable development goals reflect a similar emphasis on well-being for all. They routinely invest in startups that address things like environmentally sound consumption and production patterns, access to education, healthcare, and resources for all genders, and the creation of multi-stakeholder partnerships to link public and private resources together. By linking environmental responsibility with human rights, Konica Minolta practices sustainability as not just something that’s good for business and the bottom line, but good for communities and people, too.
A household name in the office technology industry, Lexmark has a long history of embracing sustainability in their business processes and products. They’re particularly known for their emphasis on the creation of circular economies where materials are used and reused to reduce waste in the long run.
Lexmark emphasizes remanufactured products such as toner cartridges and has been steadily redesigning their lineup to make devices last longer, with less unnecessary wear. The result is some of the most durable products on the market, including:
● Imaging components guaranteed to last 150,000 pages.
● Ultra-durable photoconductor units to produce images that don’t reduce in quality over time.
● Redesigned toner cartridges that use 50 percent fewer materials and return increased yield.
● Office technology made using manufacturing processes optimized to minimize waste.
Lexmark is an industry leader in designing waste out of its products. Its products use an average of 21 percent post-consumer recycled plastic content, and it has ambitious goals to increase that percentage. For companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint with resource-efficient technology, Lexmark is the way to go.
Sustainability means many different things, like Clover, Konica Minolta, and Lexmark show. However, whether it’s an emphasis on waste reduction, human rights or optimized product design, the leaders of the print market have made one thing clear: sustainability is good for companies, communities, and the earth.
Introducing a sustainability initiative to the office? That’s fantastic. Contact DSI to see how our partnerships with leaders in environmental responsibility can help you succeed.