The Resource-full Greener Office Guide

Are you looking to make your office environment a little greener?. Datasharp and Ricoh has been working closely with the leading climate change company, Future Forests, to produce The Resource-full Greener Office Guide" which is full of simple and practical ways to help make your office a little greener. There are already some excellent ideas in practice and we wanted to share them with you.

Order your FREE copy of the Green Guide

We could be dedicating a tree to you!

With the help of Future Forests, we are also looking to make all of our customers' copying and printing Carbon Neutral. For every 100,000 sheets output from a Ricoh device, we will be pleased to dedicate a tree to you.

Find out more and register your Ricoh device today.

Ricoh UK is officially Carbon Neutral!

Ricoh has been working with Future Forests to neutralise the greenhouse gas emissions from there head office in Feltham by investing in sustainable forestry that will absorb the equivalent emissions as it grows to maturity.

Information on Future Forests

Future Forests is the leading climate change business which helps companies and the public understand their contribution to global warming and then to take action in a way which delivers broad-based environmental benefit.

Visit Future Forests Website

Recycling / WEEE

As a reseller for Ricoh office equipment, we have taken steps and invested significantly to ensure we will be fully compliant with the EU directive for the waste of electrical and electronic equipment which comes into force on 13th August 2005.

In January 2004 Ricoh opened its first UK Green Centre in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, which manages the return of all machines, parts and supplies for recycling purposes.

Ricoh works with a third party asset recovery company to ensure all scrap machines are recycled in an environmentally friendly way and that, where feasible, raw materials are recovered for reprocessing instead of adding to the total waste burden by sending them to landfill.

More> Ricoh offers customers a green solution to used equipment disposal

Ricoh UK 's Recycling Programmes

As part of Ricoh UK 's commitment to environmental conservation we have launched four key recycling initiatives.

• Toner Cartridge Recycling
• OPC Recycling
• Cardboard Recycling
• Toner Bottle Recycling

All the equipment supplied by Datasharp Independent Solutions is accredited to a number of Environmental Protection Agencies and Programs.

One such organisation is the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) whom promote the Energy Star® which is an office equipment program concerned with energy efficient photocopiers, printers and fax machines as well as personal computers and monitors.

The products we promote have been awarded this accreditation which gives them technology which is highly energy efficient with power and supplies, this reduces waste from electrical power plants and also reduces paper costs which ultimately saves people money.

Other energy efficient benefits to many of our products include the ability to use Recycled Paper, all toner used in our machines is recyclable and machines can be programmed to power on and off, this can dispense with the power needed for cooling fans, reducing the temperature of the fuser will likewise reduce the need for cooling. All of which helps to save electrical energy.

Another seal of approval many of the products have been awarded is the "Blue Angel", this is the German environmental seal of approval. The award of this seal of approval is concerned with designating equipment with favourable environmental characteristics in construction and use. The "Blue Angel" is primarily concerned with low emissions and the reduction of waste.
Energy Consumption has been reduced by the use of electronics in modern equipment as opposed to moving relays which consumed more power.

Toner Cartridges

Photocopiers / Printers and Fax machines utilise varying methods of transferring information on to the paper, some machines return used toner (toner which has passed through the copying process) and recycle it back through the copying process. The recycling of this toner in some cases could lead to contamination and poor levels of reproduction quality, in these instances used toner is stored in recyclable plastic containers. The German Federal Office for the Environment (connected with the "Blue Angel" seal) recommend that tightly sealed containers are used for waste toner and should be either incinerated or sent to a recycling centre on the grounds of cleanliness in the office environment.

Customer Replaceable Units (CRU)

Most commonly found in low use office products, the CRU encompasses a toner container, a developing unit, cleaning device, corona charge device and a light sensitive drum. These materials are valuable to manufacturers and some will take them back for recycling.

Paper

There are many types and grades of paper which can effect the copying process. Lower grade paper, be it standard or recyclable, can cause excessive wear and tear on a product resulting in inefficiency whereby paper jams can occur. This can lead to more frequent servicing being required and more parts or consumables being used than is necessary, which generates waste.

Datasharp Independent Solutions have an approved list of standard an recycled paper as well as a special materials list encompassing consumables such as labels and overhead projector film.

E-mail: info@datasharp.uk.com