Sustainability is riding high on the consumer and business agenda. Increasingly, making business operations more sustainable means scrutinising IT infrastructure.
That’s because e-waste is a huge deal. Products such as PCs, laptops and smartphones represented 1% of the world’s carbon footprint in 2007, but this figure has already tripled and is on its way to exceed 14% by 20401.
When it comes to making sustainable choices, considerations for businesses should not just account for the carbon footprint of a printer during the product use phase but over the entire product lifecycle. This means acknowledging that carbon footprint is not a one-time measurement. It’s an assessment of everything over the entire product lifecycle, from the sourcing of the raw materials, to the product manufacturing, transportation, use and end of life processing. Canon estimates that at least 50% of the carbon footprint of a multifunction printer arises from the early raw material sourcing and manufacturing stages2, which is why a lifecycle approach to calculating the carbon footprint of a device is crucial.
This is where remanufactured and refurbished devices come in. Both are great methods of breathing new life into existing hardware and components, significantly reducing environmental impacts from the raw material sourcing and manufacturing stages of the product lifecycle3, while contributing to the circular economy. But the two shouldn’t be confused, as they’re fundamentally different. Here’s why.