Page 29 - Print21 March-April 2020

Revolution in Print
speak no evil – and which has not always been a paragon of virtue. Close the Loop though is at pains to detail exactly what happens to the waste that comes into its facility every day. And it is a remarkable story.
In Australia each year some 300,000 tonnes of plastic goes into landfill; Close the Loop though is aiming to divert much of that into roads. Each kilometre of road made from recycled product has either 530,000 used plastic bags, 12,300 used printer cartridges or 168,000 recycled plastic bottles in it.
HP Indigo waste comes in several forms; the metal ink cans from the Series 2 and Series 3 presses, the plastic ink tubes from the Series 4 presses, and the BIDs.
Recompounded
The metal ink cans have the
plastic head taken off, which is then shredded, put into a sack
with thousands of others, sent to Taiwan, where it is recompounded and with injection moulding used to make the plastic casings around laptop and desktop computers.
The metal from the metal cans is crushed and sent to OneSteel where it is remanufactured into steel.
The plastic from the plastic ink containers is also shredded and send to Taiwan for remanufacture into the plastic casings. Close the Loop has other innovative end applications, much of the waste toner and plastic bags it collects is turned into roadfill, enhancing the properties of asphalt.
The BIDs from HP Indigo presses meanwhile are collected and sent back to HP Indigo in Israel, where they are remanufactured back into new Bids. The first container load of HP Indigo BIDs from ANZ was sent off to Israel in November with another due to leave soon.
Robinson says, “Close the Loop has really thought through the
whole process and is now part of the 360 degree economy. Everything that comes in goes out to be part
of something that will be used. That is gratifying, not just from a professional perspective, but also from a human one, knowing that
all those spent items used to print are being recycled and not dumped into the ground or similar. It is a really great programme, and one which Currie Group, HP, Close the Loop, and HP Indigo press users in Australia and New Zealand can be proud of.”
Until the turn of the century spent ink cartridges from the home, the office and the commercial print world were dumped into garbage with little thought given to the consequences. However almost 20 years ago former third-party toner cartridge ink reseller Steve Morriss saw the need to deal with the increasing amount of waste going into landfill, and formed Close the Loop to deal with it with a mantra of Zero Waste to Landfill. Today the business has plants in Melbourne, the US and Europe (Brussels) and recycles thousands of tonnes of spent printer waste, with a turnover approaching $40m, and a growing reputation for its environmental commitment. The publicly unlisted company has around 450 shareholders and a dedicated focus to print consumables. It has
a major relationship with HP in the US, and in Europe, so is well used
to handling the Indigo waste. Its processes have been self developed, with the Melbourne plant playing a major part in that, as experiments, R+D, and sheer trial and error, backed by self-belief have all played a part in getting to the current situation, where all HP Indigo waste can be recycled.
Human beings have a tremendous ability to find solutions to problems, that is the story of human progress. The new programme between Currie Group, HP and Close the Loop is a real example of that, and one from which all will benefit. 21
Far left
Recycled:
Ink cannisters from HP Indigo Series
Left
Recycled: Crates of bags that have been returned from HP Indigo users
Closing the Loop – Impact Digital
Since its inception in 2008 Melbourne based commercial printer Impact Digital has had sustainability as one of its key pillars. Joint managing director Heath Nankervis says, “We set up as a digital-only business, so recognised that we had a great opportunity to establish ourselves as a sustainable operation. We put 135 solar panels on the roof, and set about ensuring that everything we did fits into a sustainable matrix. We have carried that strategy right the way through. Today we are carbon neutral, we only use certified paper, and we work with Close the Loop for waste recycling.
“We place great importance on sustainability, we are all aware that we need to look after the earth. It is so good to see the way that our spent consumables are handled, and where they end up. None of us can turn a blind eye to waste these days, we create it, we need to take responsibility for it, and the Take Back Program with Close the Loop makes that happen for our consumables. We are more than happy to
see the consumables waste taken away by Close the Loop, knowing that it will be converted into usable product.”
Impact Digital operates several digital presses with all consumable waste going to Close the Loop.
Tony Parker, also joint managing director says, “Becoming carbon neutral is the right thing to do for any business. And as well as that it proves helpful in our dealings with the big corporates and government, who are increasingly looking to use green suppliers to help them meet their own targets.”
Ready for recycling: at Impact Digital (l-r) Tony Parker and Zane Munro, with Marcus Robinson from Currie Group
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