HP kicks off new eco label with recycled printer

Sure, recycled paper is nice, but what about feeding it through a recycled printer? Not as in refurbished and resold, but as in made from recycled plastic? Hewlett-Packard is introducing a new green-focussed label for some of its peripherals, and one of the first items is the D2545 printer, made from 83 per cent recycled plastic.

HP hopes to tempt the environmentally conscious as well as those looking for a bargain with the new Deskjet, which retails for $45 (£23). Even the ink cartridges it uses are made of recycled plastic resins.

The printer is one of several products that will fall under the new HP Eco Highlights label, which will list the environmental attributes of the product. Unfortunately for us, the new Deskjet isn't available in the UK, but two LaserJet printers (the P4015x and the P4515x) are and they will also fall under the green label. HP says Eco Highlights will eventually encompass all products the company offers.

HP recycles tonnes of dead tech products every year, so it makes sense that it's able to make products from the materials it recycles. So while we consumers are becoming much more aware of the environmental impact of the products we use, and while businesses are beginning to see the boon that green policies are to their bottom lines, why not make this standard instead of an outlier?

By 2010, 100 per cent of HP's Deskjet printers will contain some recycled materials, the company says, and it will increase by three times the number of inkjet printers made from recycled materials. So if HP can do this with printers, why not make its PCs and other products from recycled materials, too?

The company wouldn't be the first to make eco-conscious PC casings. Fujitsu has been experimenting with corn-based resins in some of the laptops it is selling, and Asus has come up with a range of bamboo-encased computers.

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