Kyocera Ecosys - Ecological Printing

Kyocera Mita, the world-leading document imaging company, celebrates the tenth anniversary of the launch of its ECOSYS technology this year. Kyocera Mita revolutionised office printing in 1992 by developing a printing engine that is not only environmentally friendly, but also more economical to run than other printers. Since then the company has enjoyed continuing success with its guarantee of low cost, ecologically friendly products.

ECOSYS stands for ECOlogy, ECOnomy and SYStem and demonstrates Kyocera Mita’s commitment to developing a solution that is environmentally responsible, economic to run and at the forefront of technology. All Kyocera Mita printers have a long life drum and developer, which means that when the toner runs out that’s all you replace, in a clean and easy to install cassette. This makes the total cost of ownership (TCO) of Kyocera Mita printers up to three times cheaper than competitors.

With standard laser printers, when the toner runs out you replace a cartridge which also contains the drum and developer. This is like forcing drivers to buy a new engine every time their car runs out of petrol. It not only results in a high cost of ownership for the user, but the excess waste which contains a potentially noxious cocktail of plastics, rubber, foam, brass, copper and aluminium, is consigned to landfill as a potential problem for future generations. Each year, the equivalent of 1,700 double decker buses full of used toner cartridges are consigned to landfill sites. ECOSYS toner cassettes, which are designed to be safely incinerated, are kinder to the Earth’s environment and thus more ecologically responsible.

Tracey Rawling Church, Head of Marketing at Kyocera Mita UK, comments: “We are delighted to be celebrating the tenth anniversary of ECOSYS technology this year. Over the last decade Kyocera Mita has worked hard to promote environmentally friendly office printing and our message has been well received. Let’s hope the next ten years see still further advances in technology combined with increasing respect for the world around us.”

Kyocera Mita is celebrating the ten-year anniversary of ECOSYS by encouraging offices to consider the ten green rules of printing:

Use non-chlorine bleached environmentally responsible paper for all your printing.
Print and photocopy using a double sided layout wherever possible to reduce paper wastage and cost.
Reduce paper consumption further by printing two, four or eight pages per A4 sheet.
Don’t overprint documents. Take care to calculate how many copies you really need to cut down on wastage – some printers can store documents in memory should further documents be required.
Proof read documents thoroughly (preferably with help from other colleagues) before sending a long print run – use your printer’s ‘proof and hold’ feature if available.
Use draft mode for internal documents to reduce your toner consumption.
Set your printer’s sleep mode, so when it’s not printing the energy consumption is minimal and ensure you switch it off at night.
Identify a paper collection point(s) in the office for recycling bins to dispose of waste paper.
Implement a simple recycling scheme. Contact your local council to find out details of schemes in your area.
Include eco-criteria in major purchases.