“The circle is still unfinished and I’m not sure if it will ever close,” said Canon’s EMEA sustainability and government affairs director Peter Bragg.
Speaking at Sustainability Live, Canon’s sustainability leader spoke about how the imaging company is focusing on a circular economy to keep its products in circulation for as long as possible.
“Manufacturers have a great challenge to ensure products can be remanufactured, reused and/or recycled,” he said.
“A ‘traditional’ way of thinking is making something that can be disposed of,” he continued.
“But we recognise as a manufacturer, we have a critical responsibility to limit the environmental impact of both our own operations, but also the whole product lifecycle from production through to end of life.”
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Reducing e-waste and emissions go hand in hand
In his session, Bragg alluded to critical numbers released from the United Nations highlighting that there are nearly 54 million metric tonnes of e-waste collected each year. Out of this, only 17% is collected for recycling.
As the European Union (EU) becomes more “aggressive” on its new regulations coming from 2025 on recycling efficiency and material recovery, Canon is shifting even more of its focus on minimising waste.
“Minimising e-waste is key to reducing Canon’s environmental impacts and to have a more circular business,” said Bragg. “Reducing emissions and Co2 emissions is inextricably linked and that’s why they’re the real two core areas we focus on as a business.”
Canon’s three Rs
To enhance its circular business, one of the key aspects is Canon innovation, from creating and managing products in a circular way, developing refurbished and remanufactured devices, expanding cartridge collection, recycling, and refilling programmes and reducing single-use plastic in its product packaging materials.
“We want to create a system that considers how every single product and material is designed, created, reused, repaired, and recycled,” said Bragg.
At the core of its circular initiatives are Canon’s three Rs: Remanufacture, repair and recycle.
Bragg spotlighted a remanufactured Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCED printer which he refers to as a “halo product” as up to 90% of its parts came from used parts.
“Only 10% of that device is new,” he added.
Canon also repairs around 80,000 products each year and has five recycling plants globally.
“We also recently announced an imaging technology that is able to separate black plastics from combined recycling and identified said can be sorted separately and recycled, said Bragg.
“So hopefully, we see the growth of that technology as it gets rolled out into the market.”
Will the circle ever close?
While Canon has put a lot in place to close the loop, Bragg emphasised that Canon’s circular business remains “unfinished.”
“The circle has not closed and I’m not sure if it ever will,” said Bragg.
But there are many things which the business and its stakeholders can do to minimise the gap and reduce as much emissions as possible. A core aspect of this strategy is collaboration.
“We need to build new partnerships, develop new thinking, new technologies, and share knowledge and understanding as well,” said Bragg. “And that’s the only way we will make progress in this vital area.”
“We also need to collaborate with customers,” Bragg added.
“A circular economy is about getting them to return cartilage and not just leaving them in the store cupboard at the back of the office.
“It’s about adopting and embracing the new products that we have available and the remanufactured and refurbished products,” Bragg continued.
“We always know there’s work to be done, but we’re on a journey we need to work together,” Bragg concluded.
“There’s room to collaborate and connect and the knowledge that we all are dependent on one another to achieve those aims.”
