University of Nova Gorica Graduate School Environmental Sciences Study Programme PROJECT

1. University of Nova Gorica Graduate School Environmental Sciences Study Programme PROJECT GREEN PRINTER Postgraduate students: Synetta Metelko Andreea Oarga Romana Kristof Daniela Babjak

2. INTRODUCTION Most of us have a habit of using far more paper than we need to, from newspapers that capture our attention for only an hour or two, to printed copies of documents that we could just as easily read from a screen. Luckily, changing the paper habit isas easy as keeping the three R's in mind: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Always have in mind: Reduce:Read and use information directly on your computer screen when you can; print documents only when you really need to print on both sides of the paper whenever possible. Reuse:Save paper that is printed on only one side and give it to the kids to color on, or use it as scratch paper for grocery lists, to-do lists, and so on. Recycle:Both ink cartridges and paper are easy to recycle; refill ink cartridges if you can, or else send empty cartridges in to be recycled.

3. INTRODUCTION There are almost 700 000 households* in Slovenia and 60% of them have an computer*, with 1 printer per computer. In Slovenia, there are 854 000 working people*,with 50% of them working with a computer* (est. 4 computers per printer). Lifetime of analysed printer was5 years. We calculated that in Slovenia we use 526 750 printers (106 750 printers in offices and 420 000 in households). *information from Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia

4. Our printer was made by Canon, about 6 years ago. The printer consists of 6 different materials and 5 components & weights 2.8 kg total and 2.2 kg net. Most of it is made out of steel and plastics (some unlabeled). It uses 20W at 220-240 V. INTRODUCTION

5. Disassembling the printer Disassembly took us 45 minutes (first, 1 person, then 3 persons) – long disassembly time Notes: most of plastic parts were connected with a snap fits; design defect: many different types of screws (required different snaps); printer stepper motor was impossible to disassemble

6. Disassembling the printer Here you can see the smaller parts at the end of the disassembly procedure.

7. Disassembly-chart for printer

8. Recycling potential Most parts are plastics and metal and therefore offer significant recycling potential. Easier disassembly with proper tools. No available data about precise percentage of printer recyclability.

9. Recycling potential of different parts Recyclable Plastic (labeled) Metal pieces (iron) Components (valuable metals) Cardboard and paper Not recyclable Copper Zinc Rubber Cotton

10. Energyconsumption One printer use per day: 0.5h printing, 7.5h in sleep mode and 16h in off mode transportation: ship from Hang G. (Vietnam) to Trieste (Italy), truck from Trieste to Gorizia est. for packaging 0.3kg paper and 0.3kg polystyrene

11. use for printers in business: 4h printing, 4h sleep mode, 16h off mode • use for households printers are same as for one printer • transportation for each printer alone Printers in Slovenia

12. Avoidance Reduction Re-use Recycling Burning Treatment Disposal GREENING YOUR PRINTER Waste elimination • Avoid printing – deep green change • Limit printer’s use with: USB sticks, online document and file transfer, e-books...,

13. Avoidance Reduction waste minimization Re-use Recycling Burning Treatment Disposal GREENING YOUR PRINTER • Take in consideration: End-of-Life Cycle, environmental friendly materials and the best dismantling or reusing conditions; • Printer manufacturing using recycled materials; • Energy saving mode of operation: after 5min the mode turns to standby, after 10min the printer would shut down itself; • Waste and energy reduction: using soy ink or other vegetable oil ink; and using paper with a high percentage of post-consumer recycled paper • Multipurpose printer use (optical text recognition, scanning, photocopying, faxing); • Reuse: printer stepper motor used for precise operation modes, e.g. robotic arms movements for gluing photovoltaic cells (http://peter-schuetz3.magix.net);

14. Example: smart use of parts from printers Photovaoltaic production plant: Stringer machine, which use motors of the printers to glue photovoltaic cells (motors: Schrittmotor 103- 547)

15. Avoidance Reduction Re-use Recycling Burning Treatment Disposal GREENING YOUR PRINTER • Burn non-recyclable plastics, cotton rubber. • Treatment of ink residues Waste - impact minimization

16. SUSTAINABLE PRINTER Serves multiple purposes and maximizes shelf life Raises awareness by displaying environmental specs Limits ink coverage and areas of solid color Bearsenvironmental certification Uses recycled, FSC-certified paper(chlorine-free) Uses soy- and vegetable-based inks Avoids foilstamping, thermography, and lamination Uses up-to-date mailing lists that accurately target your audience

17. Energyconsumption- green printer Note: • Fabricated and packed with recycled plastics, metal and paper; • Use stage: printer after 5 min turns to sleep mode, after 10 min shuts down; • Disposed as mixed plastics, paper and metals (mix of virgin and recycled inputs)

18. Required energy for fabrication– Canon vs. green printer

19. Required energy for use- Canon vs. green printer • Note: After 5 min the green printer turns into sleep mode, after 10 min in off mode.

20. Individual energy consumption (life-cycle)– Canon vs. green printer • Designing a new green printer we would save roughly about 40%.

21. CONCLUSIONS • If printers were made from recycled materials instead of virgin materials, the energy consumption for production would be reduced by more than 50%. • We did not find any data about energy consumption for the production of ink cartridges, but we assume it to be high. • Although ink and paper consumption has an indirect inflow of energy consumption in the life cycle, we have not taken it into account in our calculations. We estimate that using a soy ink and a 100% recycled paper would decrease energy requirements for about 20% to 30%.