Super 3D printing

Earlier this year I passed on some super space age printing technique that a supporter of ours told me about. Well, my boss saw that some bright spark has printed a real car!!!?!

Sometimes this world makes me feel analogue...

Printeco supports Children's Hospice South West for one year and raises thousands!

Greensource Solutions Printeco cartridge range has supported Children's Hospice South West for one year now and we are extremely proud to tell the world that £14,894 has been raised for the charity from Printeco cartridge sales!

This is a fantastic amount. We support Children's Hospice South West in a variety of ways and approached the charity in 2009 to propose the Printeco partnership.

Greensource donate £2 to the charity from the sale of every Printeco cartridge sold.

Our Printeco cartridge range includes over 300 different compatible toner cartridges. We remanufacture them at our site in Bristol to strict standards - each cartridge has a 2 year guarantee. The cartridge will match or exceed the quality of its branded equivalent and they cost significantly less (in some cases they can be up to 70% cheaper).

Just as important as all of this is their environmental performance. Because these cartridges are remade from empty cartridges, they use a fraction of the energy in their production (compared to branded cartridges) and because Greensource Solutions operations are all at our Bristol location, less road miles are travelled throughout the (second) life of the cartridge compared to overseas imports or many of our competitors.

In short, we think you should use them! If you are interested in finding out more about our Printeco range, or getting a quote on the cartridges then contact our sales team:
sales@greensource.co.uk
0117 3042396

Greensource Solutions unveils it's new website

We are proud to present our new and improved website. A lot of work has been done to this version to make it easier to navigate around and find what you want to.

On a design related note, this is an official move from cliche green that we (and a zillion other environmental companies) championed for many years.
Now this isn't to say that green is not a great colour and it's connotations and symbolism is in everyones mind. But one day recently something snapped in the psyche of Greensources marketing department. From that point on there has been an almost religious fervour in selecting any colour other than green when designing.

I think the site design is fabulous and the new site tops off what has been a fantastic year for Greensource Solutions.

Onwards and upwards!

How do you catch a ghost?

Now, I wouldn't say we're superstitious here, but somethings are unexplainable...

We employ three drivers at Greensource. Part of their job is to go and collect empty cartridges from businesses local to us.

There's always been competition and sometimes cartridges will have been taken by another collector - I guess we've done the same on occasion. Most collectors are charity affiliated and most businesses retain loyalty to a certain collector, because of the charity they support.

However the course of events since 2007 has changed this in Bristol. Greensource acquired the two other cartridge collectors local to us and effectively all this argie bargie of one man taking another ones cartridges should have ended...but it didn't.

There is a mysterious/indescribable/ninja/ghost woman who drifts in and out of offices in Bristol taking empty cartridges. I'm starting to obsess about this particular individual though the more I dig the less I know.

Soze cartridge recycling - yes I do support charity!

So, getting in to the role of chief investigator at Greensource I ask all the businesses we collect from and who are aware of this woman who she works for, if they have contact details, even what she looks like! And I come up with zip.
People are genuinely unable to even describe this woman. It's like she has the ability to stand in a room and do what she chooses without anyone even seeing her.

This is becoming surreal and laughable and I am enjoying the jokes with our donors about it.

But there is a serious side that I am more than happy to make platitudes about.
We collect to raise funds for our charity partners and two of these charities are local to us - St Peter's Hospice and Children's Hospice South West. So beyond my bafflement I see our charity partners missing out on something they deserve.

The ghost collector does mention to the businesses she frequents that a charity benefits. But no one seems to pin point which one...The two mentioned most commonly are NSPCC and Clic Sargeant.
I'm really taking the role seriously now, so phone up both charities and dig a little and find out no one regionally or nationally is aware of someone in the Bristol area doing this on their behalf. This is weird - and possibly fraudulent.

My mind is racing, trying on the one hand to justify what the cartridge ninja does (simply a good person, supporting charity very anonymously) while pragmatically building up a case against this (seriously, how easy is it to go and sell empty cartridges for the average person and why is it all so vague!!!!)

Experience of working with charities leads my cynicism on, as official relationships need to be airtight and a regular supporter/volunteer would be known by someone

And now my own paranoia takes hold. What if I do unmask a fraud, who has been living off this for years and ruin their life? Maybe I'll unleash a monster hellbent on taking revenge - it happens!!!

What 2011 holds, for us and the cartridge pixie time will only tell.


NB I like telling this story because it adds a different kind of colour to the business than the CMYK we deal in.

Greensource Solutions unveils the online cartridge recycling search tool

Greensource Solutions is proud to announce its online cartridge search tool is now live and ready for use!

Printer cartridge recycling is a subjective thing. Sadly not every cartridge can be accepted by us (and other collectors in the industry) as not every cartridge is refilled.
We've always published a cartridge guide that people could look at online, or receive from us. However, if you don't live, eat and breathe cartridges like us it could be a tad unwieldy.

After some thought and a lot of development there is a new way to check whether we can accept the cartridges you want to recycle.

The idea is simple, you have cartridges you want to check can be recycled?
Go on the cartridge search tool and select the brand of the cartridge. Then check the list and hey presto we hope you have cartridges we can accept!

We also provide information in the subsequent email sent out which can direct you to what to do with cartridges we can't accept - you can also check out this previous blog

All of this is done to reuse, reduce landfill and raise money for our charity partners

3d Printing!!!!

A supporter of Greensource Solutions passed this onto me recently. 3D printing!!!!

It's not like that though! 3D printing is not about making blurry pictures, these printers actually make physical things like prosthetic limbs, quirky lampshades or houses!!!

I only found out about this, because Greensource Solutions is involved in printing, but not NASA style printing.

The principals seem similar: The machine gets a design sent to it from computer and adds layer upon layer of whatever material it uses and hey presto there's your finished product.

Apparently this technology has been around for sometime, but it feels very 21st century to me.

Battery car, or Diesel - which has least impact?

Straying from the normal fare, my boss passed me this interesting report produced by the Swiss Government which calculated the impact of a battery powered car compared to a diesel powered vehicle.
Believe it or not, diesel vehicles come off better in the study. The clincher is the source of energy that battery cars use to power up - if the electricity comes from a dirty power station then it doesn't look good.

This study most importantly (in my mind) raises that age old dilemma of how people perceive change. In this particulat example, Battery power has clear advantages if its power can be obtained from clean sources. But the transition will always cost dearly.

Check out this Infographic about Recycling in the UK

Claire from Recycling.co.uk forwarded Greensource Towers this lovely looking infographic about the levels of household recycling that currently occurs in the UK. Here's a small version of it...

Infographic by Recycle - Don't bin it, recycle it

I was fascinated and slightly horrified by the decomposition times of things I am guilty of throwing away (nappies take 550 years!!! that is a long time smell).

I think it's time to build that DIY pyrolysis chamber in my back yard.

Definitely worth a read.

Got toners you can't recycle?

We collect empty printer cartridges. We've done it for years! We do it because many printer cartridges have still got a lot of life in them after they've run out of ink. So an empty can be refilled, reconditioned, remanufactured, turned into a compatible (there's a lot of different phrases that people use).

I like to think of it as 21st century rag and bone because we take what many see as rubbish and give it new life

"Greensource Solutions, how can I help?"

However, there's always been cartridges no one wants to refill. Sometimes we think we have a good answer for this, sometimes all we can say is dems da breaks.

After extensive planning and research I thought to provide some answers to where this detritus might go - other than landfill which we never like to promote (in some cases, unless you are willing to pay that is all there is though). Click on the manufacturer name where relevant to go to their web page.

THE MANUFACTURERS RETURNS SCHEMES FOR TONERS

Brother

Have a freepost scheme for many of their empty cartridges that we can't accept.

http://www.brother.co.uk/s_page/204810/s_name/recycling22/s_element/1682140/searchkey/toner%20recycling

Canon 

Use Ereco to recycle all of their empty toners and cartridges that cannot be refilled (often the C-EXV parts).

http://www.canon.co.uk/About_Us/About_Canon/Environmental_Activities/Canon_eReco_tonerbottlerecycling.aspx

They do have a recycling program for low value inks:

http://www.canon.co.uk/recycling/inkjet/index.aspx

Danwood

Have a returns scheme (publicised in their brochures) in partnership with Accutec. Call Danwood head office T: 01753 630000 for more information.

Dell

For ink cartridges we can't accept.

https://www.printerecycling.com/Default.aspx?pid=1&rO=3&culture=en-GB

Epson

Their inkjet cartridge range can be returned via this link.

http://content.epson-europe.com/environment/collectandrecycle/en/

Gestetner

Online they state their toner cartridges all have a returns label in the box. On a side note Gestetner is part of the NRG group which is owned by Ricoh.

http://www.gestetner.co.uk/about_us/environment/environmental_management/index.xhtml

Hewlett Packard

All cartridges we can't accept can be returned to them via their Planet Partners programme.

https://h30248.www3.hp.com/recycle/ereturns/welcome-hpe.asp?__cc=gb&__la=en

IBM

No scheme in place.

Ikon

See Ricoh below.

Kodak

On their website they say that certain retail outlets will accept their inks (but give no specifics).

http://shop.kodak.co.uk/store/ekconseu/en_GB/pd//productID.187982700

16/07/10 UPDATE!! After speaking with their customer service line, they currently don't have any UK based returns scheme and suggested seeing if the retailer would accept the empty cartridges.

Konica Minolta

Operate the World on loan scheme. They use Imprint (new! change in 2013 / 2014) to recycle all of their empty toners and cartridges that cannot be refilled.

http://www.konicaminolta.co.uk/business-solutions/environment/bizhub-printers-consumable-recycling.html

Kyocera Mita

http://www.kyoceradocumentsolutions.co.uk/index/toner_cassette_returns.html

Lanier

See Ricoh below.

Lexmark

Have a inkjet and laser collection program.

http://www1.lexmark.com/en_GB/about-us/collection-and-recycling-program/cartridge-collection-program/index.shtml

Mannesman Tally

See Printronix below.

Nashuatec

Online they state their toner cartridges all have a returns label in the box. They are part of the NRG Group which is owned by Ricoh.

Online they state their toner cartridges all have a returns label in the box.

NRG Group

Runs Nashuatec, Rex Rotary and Gestetner brands. This company is owned by Ricoh.

Oce

(Part of Canon now who bought them out) Do have information about toner bottle recycling on site, but of the three options returning to them is the last and it doesn't seem guaranteed they will accept.

http://sustainability.oce.com/care-and-dispose.asp

Oki

Operate their own returns scheme using freepost bags/labels.

http://www.oki.co.uk/corporate/environment/detail.aspx?id=tcm:122-101705-16

Panasonic

Operate their own returns scheme using freepost labels supplied in the cartridge box

http://panasonic.net/eco/factory/product_recycle/out_of_japan.html#section-01

Printronix

They took over Tallys laser printer range when Tally went bust in 2009. They no longer operate the printer cartridge return scheme, as it costs too much for them and their customers.

Rex Rotary

Online they state their toner cartridges all have a returns label in the box. They are part of the NRG group which is owned by Ricoh.

http://www.rexrotary.co.uk/about_us/environment/environmental_management/index.xhtml

Ricoh

UPDATE 13/08/13

Ricoh now state they run a free of charge collection scheme. I've been told a condition is buying supplies direct from Ricoh. The scheme hasn't been proven to work yet!

http://www.ricoh.co.uk/about-ricoh/our-principles/environment/ricoh-toner-recycling/

They also still seem to use Ereco as a charged collection scheme.

Note that Lanier and Ikon are both brands owned by Ricoh (Lanier is part of their US division and Ikon are a Ricoh company).

Samsung

Have the STAR program for cartridge returns.

http://www.samsung.com/printer/STAR/

Sharp

Use Ereco to recycle all of their empty toners and cartridges that cannot be refilled.

http://www.fcbs.co.uk/environmental/consumable-recycling-scheme.pdf

Tally

See Printronix above.

Toshiba

Charge £40 per boxed collection, of which they pay 50% of charges. TNT collect on their behalf.

email: consumables.orders@toshibatec.co.uk

Xerox

Their Greenworld Alliance Scheme freepost return scheme can be used to return single cartridges.

http://www.xerox.com/about-xerox/recycling/enus.html

Xerox also make provision for larger collections from their customers. Greensource can provide this information to anyone interested.


As you may have noticed, a lot of these companies have chosen to use Ereco to provide this service to their customers.
Now, as much as we want to promote the recycling industry and reduce landfill...£34.50 per 20Kg of toners!!!

I would find it hard to justify this cost to my colleagues in accounts.

The carbon footprint of your mobile phone

The Grauniad have published this article that tries to quantify the carbon footprint of a mobile phone use.
Fairly interesting stuff on one level - I like the fact it breaks down the various stages of a mobile phones manufacture.
However, like all calculations in this impossibly complex field it could never take into account every circumstance and some of the withering responses from readers point out its various shortfalls.

One thing close to our hearts here is mobile phone reuse. The article points out that nearly 2.7 billion phones are in use worldwide (nearly 50% of humans use one apparently), however what could never be easily confirmed is how many of these phones are 2nd, 3rd or 4th hand.

This in our humble opinion must account for a sizeable proportion out there. Our industry frequently bandies about the figure that an estimated 90 million phones are lying redundant in draws across the UK alone!

What cannot be denied is that mobile communication and increasingly internet access from handheld devices is ubiquitous in our society and clearly all over the planet and this has to have an impact on our world

Mobile phone industry emissions equal to the car and aviation industry?

It has been claimed in a news item on Edie.net that the mobile phone industry generates 183 million tonnes of CO2 annually which is approximately 0.7% of global emissions.

The report continues to quote Deloittes telecoms partner, Tony Cooper, "Telecoms businesses are responding to this issue, but there is still significant progress to be made in areas such as increased network sharing, reduced power consumption, improved field force effectiveness and reduced handset renewal."

After checking out google (classic - the extent of 21st century research) I saw Treehugger had expanded on this story and included a manifesto by the GSM Association that aimed to provide a blueprint for the industry to reduce its emissions significantly.

These figures seem big! However, it seems perfectly feasible none the less and I hope this info can increase the pressure on the industry to improve it's energy performance.

On this very blog we reported on developments by Nokia to manufacture a phone that never requires mains charging which from the perspective of the end user would mean big savings were possible.

As a phone user in England, I have been guilty of getting wowed by a new handset with every contract - not necessary surely (wifey negotiated a much smaller contract fee with T-Mobile if she didn't get a new handset, so it is a reality but I guess it's in the big contract providers interest to continue to lavish us with new handsets). I've heard the European market doesn't work like this and our company collect unwanted handsets to resell or recycle.

Less energy use please!

Greensource Solutions partners with Friends of Paradise Wildlife Park

We are happy to announce that we have gone into partnership with Friends of Wildlife Paradise Park to raise funds for their work by collecting empty printer cartridges, mobile phones, PDAs, MP3 players, digital cameras and sat nav devices. These will be reused or recycled.

Friends of Paradise Wildlife Park (FoPWP) is a registered charity
(charity number: 1108609) based at Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. FoPWP is run by people with a real passion for animals who are dedicated to raising awareness for the conservation of animals both in the UK and Internationally.

To date, thanks to the effort put into fundraising by all our volunteers, those who attend our events, Paradise Wildlife Park and its visitors; FoPWP has been able to raise thousands of pounds for animal conservation charities worldwide including: Gyps Vulture Project, Wildlife Vets International, Hill Top Animal Sanctuary, 21st Century Tiger, World Land Trust through BIAZA, Save the Rhino and the EAZA Campaigns, including this year’s for European Carnivores to name but a few.

Numerous fundraising events are run throughout the year by FoPWP raising funds which are then available in the form of grants to any animal based project worldwide. A list of previous grants can be found on the PWP website on the dedicated FoPWP page.

Please help us to continue our important conservation work of raising funds and awareness for conservation efforts around the world by volunteering at one of our events, joining as a member, making a donation or coming along to one of our events.

Go to www.pwpark.com to find out more about FoPWP and Paradise Wildlife Park.

An honourable mention also needs to go out to Ashley at Paradise Park for efficiency beyond the realms of the charity world! (Ed. please note that all of our charity partners are extremely efficient)

Greensource Solutions partners with Ulster Wildlife Trust

We are happy to announce a new partnership with the Ulster Wildlife Trust. We will be raising funds for the Trust by collecting empty printer cartridges, mobile phones, PDAs, MP3 players, digital cameras and sat nav devices. All of these things will be reused or recycled.

The Ulster Wildlife Trust is your local nature conservation charity working across Northern Ireland for a natural environment rich in wildlife, valued by everyone. We are the only local charity dedicated to protecting all of our local habitats and species, both on our land and in our seas.

With your support, we can continue to:

• Engage with thousands of children and young people to inspire them about their natural environment.
• Maintain and grow our network of nature reserves as havens for local wildlife and people.
• Protect threatened species like the red squirrel, barn owl and Irish hare.
• Work at the heart of the community helping others to boost the wildlife value of their local parks and green spaces.
• Lobby government and elected representatives to ensure that legislation and policies are in place to conserve and enhance Northern Ireland’s biodiversity.

To find out more about our work and how you can help make a difference to local wildlife and wild places, visit www.ulsterwildlifetrust.org

The Ulster Wildlife Trust is a charity recognised by HM Revenue & Customs No. XN45269 and a company limited by Guarantee No. 12711

Greensource Solutions welcomes new charity partners

It's always a treat to announce we have a new charity partner, so for two to come along so close together is double bubble!!!

I will pay each charity the respect of giving them their own post so details will follow...

The Greensource Totaliser

Greensource Solutions supports Children's Hospice South West in several ways - most recently creating a partnership where we give them £2 from the sale of our every one of our Printeco cartridges.

To celebrate this and to register the fact we are children of a certain era (see pic above) we've built the Greensource Totaliser which has its pride of place on the Greensource Solutions homepage.

The Totaliser speaks! it's already registering £1048 raised from Decembers sales.

We look forward to seeing the total grow...

Greensource Solutions now collect unwanted MP3 players, digital cameras, Sat Nav and other handheld digital equipment

We are happy to announce that we can now accept various unwanted handheld digital equipment.
This mainly consists of MP3 players (like Ipod, Zune, IRiver), Sat Nav units (TomTom, Garmin, Navigon etc) and Digital Cameras.
These can all fit snugly into our freepost bags which already whizz across the mighty Royal Mail system stuffed full of lovely empty ink jet printer cartridges and unwanted mobile phones and PDAs.

We are always open to queries about the more unusual digi items people may want to pass on - if we can find a home for it we will take it.

As always these donations will raise money for our charity partners (which we always like to tell people) and you can specify the charity partner you wish to support with a donation.

Greensource Solutions pledges £2 from the sale of every Printeco cartridge for Children’s Hospice South West

With a new decade we are proud as punch to announce a new dimension to one of our existing partnerships

Greensource Solutions will support Children’s Hospice South West by donating £2 from every Printeco cartridge sold to contribute to the charity’s work with life-limited children. This partnership began on December 1st 2009.

Greensource Solutions, the Bristol based printer cartridge and mobile phone recycler and office supplies company, already raises money for Children’s Hospice South West by collecting empty printer cartridges and mobile phones from its supporters.

The company is proud to support the charity and this latest arm of the partnership will greatly increase the money raised for the work Children’s Hospice South West is committed to. “We have a history of supporting charities through our work and it is a great honour to forge this new aspect of giving with Children’s Hospice South West” says Patrick Sheridan of Greensource Solutions. “We love the fact that every Printeco cartridge sold raises £2 for the charity, which is unique in the cartridge remanufacturing industry and is such a transparent method of support”.
Karen Willis, Head of Fundraising at Charlton Farm, said: “We are delighted that Greensource have decided to support us in this way. Not only can people raise money for Children's Hospice South West by recycling their cartridges but now they can raise money when they buy them too!”

Greensource Solutions has been remanufacturing its own Printeco brand of compatible cartridges since 2007. The process uses empty printer cartridges and so helps reduce the carbon footprint of businesses. They are quality guaranteed for two years and are significantly cheaper than their branded equivalent.

The company has seen sales of its Printeco range increase dramatically in 2009. This was triggered by many businesses looking to make savings in the economic downturn and their stationery bill is often one of the first areas to be scrutinised.

Children’s Hospice South West provides the only hospice care for life-limited children and their families in the South West of England. In the South West there are more than 1,000 children with life threatening illnesses. Caring for a life-limited child can be an exhausting and lonely experience and can put immeasurable strain on the family. Our two hospices, Little Bridge House in North Devon and Charlton Farm in North Somerset are places where families can stay for respite and relaxation, friendship, expert palliative and end of life care. This support for the families starts from their referral to our hospice and continues into bereavement.

To find out more about Greensource Solutions Printeco range contact the Greensource sales department:
T: 0117 304 2396
E: sales@greensource.co.uk
To find out more about Children’s Hospice South West please go to their website:
www.chsw.org.uk