Xerox Corporation today released its 2005 Environment, Health and Safety Progress Report, which details the year's progress, new initiatives and continuing challenges.
ROCHESTER, New York — Xerox Corporation today released its 2005 Environment, Health and Safety Progress Report, which details the year's progress, new initiatives and continuing challenges.
"Sustainable operations is a demanding goal but one that will ultimately more than repay our efforts. We have demonstrated that you actually can save money by investing in environmentally sound technologies and business practices," said Patricia A. Calkins, Xerox vice president of Environment, Health and Safety. "Sustainable strategies also ensure that Xerox products answer the environmental expectations of customers, from large federal agencies to small family-owned businesses."
Xerox's environmental program includes the entire product life cycle, from selecting raw materials to integrating product features that help people work wisely in small offices, large enterprises and commercial print operations worldwide. It includes sourcing paper from environmentally sound suppliers, designing equipment with parts and subsystems that can be reused, and eliminating hazardous substances in products.
Xerox said that its products are designed to help customers meet their own sustainability objectives. For example, equipment is energy-efficient and includes features for automatic two-sided printing to conserve paper. Toner cartridges and other supplies are designed for recycling. And Xerox-exclusive technologies such as solid ink generate 95 percent less consumables waste than comparable laser printers.
Xerox is moving forward on a number of important goals, Calkins said, including Xerox's pledge announced earlier this year to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent from 2002 to 2012, its program to achieve benchmark safety levels, and its initiative to further control chemicals used in Xerox products. Among the highlights in the report:
-- Ninety-seven percent of eligible new Xerox products met the requirements of the international ENERGY STAR(R) and Canada's Environmental Choice. By selling ENERGY STAR products and reusing parts in Xerox remanufacturing operations, the company enabled energy savings equivalent to 1.4 million megawatt hours of electricity in 2004, enough to light about 1.1 million U.S. homes for a year.
-- Improvements in energy efficiency enabled Xerox to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 6 percent between 2002 and 2004, while energy consumption decreased by 3 percent.
-- All new products achieved Xerox's rigorous standards for minimal use of hazardous materials and noise, ozone and dust emissions.
-- In 2005, the company launched its first office products - such as the WorkCentre M118/M118i basic multifunction systems - designed to meet the requirements of the European Union's restriction on the use of hazardous substances, which takes effect in July 2006. Xerox engineers continue to innovate to ensure Xerox products meet the E.U. directive, called RoHS.
-- Reuse and recycling of Xerox equipment and supplies in 2004 kept 142 million pounds of material from entering landfills - the approximate weight of 8,600 African elephants. Over the past 15 years, this program has given new life to the equivalent of 2.5 million copiers, printers and multifunction systems.
-- Ninety-six percent of returned parts ineligible for reuse were successfully recycled by Xerox's worldwide equipment recovery and recycle operations.
The full report is available at www.xerox.com/environment.
Source: Business Wire, Xerox
