Toner Recycling Project

Our world is only as healthy as the ecosystems that we all depend on. By planting trees, cleaning up riverbanks, or simply by recycling we can do our bit to the benefit of mother nature. For this reason Konica Minolta South Africa is passionate about their Toner Recycling Project and ensuring  they continue to make a positive and sustained difference this World Environment Day.

Konica Minolta South Africa takes its responsibility to ensure waste products from the use of their products don't pollute our environment. Because toner bottles and cartridges are not reusable or refillable, and the fact that there isn’t a recycling market for these items, the business established its environmentally-friendly recycling programme called the Toner Recycling Project in 2014. To date in excess of a whopping 90 tons of used toner bottles, cartridges and imaging units have been recycled and prevented from entering a landfill!  

“In 2011, I asked myself how can we claim to be a green company without taking responsibility for discarded and empty toner bottles and cartridges? The business used this recycling initiative as part of their Enterprise Development Programme countrywide and in 2015, New Circle Green Solutions was registered and this is when our journey with the Toner Recycling Project started. We are proud to be able to have this environmentally-friendly programme in place through which we can make a difference daily to the environment,” explains Emerentia du Toit, relations manager at Konica Minolta South Africa’s Centurion branch and project manager of the Toner Recycling Project.

Through the business’s supplier development beneficiary, New Circle Green Solutions, used toner bottles, cartridges and imaging units are collected from clients. The items are then taken to a factory where they are sorted according to type, weighed and then granulated to make various items. Some items that have successfully been made with the recycled toner bottles and cartridges include coasters, flower and vegetable pots, as well as outdoor furniture such as umbrella stands and picnic benches.

“Konica Minolta South Africa’s Toner Recycling Project offers a simple and convenient procedure for consumable recycling at zero cost to your company. This project is close to our hearts and we are committed to the environment by reducing, reusing and recycling wherever we can. We acknowledge our customers who participate in the Toner Recycling Project by presenting them with a certificate every financial year-end,” says Marc Pillay, CEO of Konica Minolta South Africa. 

Did you know?
An empty printer cartridge will take 1,000 years to decompose and globally, at least 80 percent of used toner and ink cartridges end up in landfills - frightening facts that we need to address!