Armor’s place on circular economy roadmap

March 13, 2019

Armor Office Printing has been explaining how it is situated according to the Roadmap for the Circular Economy published in April 2018 by the French Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transaction.

As Armor reveals, the RCE’s objectives include:

• Reducing French consumption of natural resources: a 30 percent reduction in resource use in relation to GDP by 2030, compared to 2010
• A 50 percent reduction in the amount of non-hazardous waste landfilled by 2025, compared to 2010
• Aiming to recycle 100 percent of plastics by 2025
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions: saving 8 million additional tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, thanks to plastic recycling
• Creating up to 300,000 additional jobs, including in new professions.

In order to achieve these goals, there are 50 practical steps which can be followed, divided into 4 categories. These consist of:

• Better production: More recycled materials in products, environmental labelling, etc.
• Better consumption: Encouraging reuse, repair, the economy of functionality and consumer information
• Better waste management: Facilitating waste sorting and reuse
• Mobilising all parties involved (citizens, businesses, etc.) through raising awareness, education, and strengthening partnerships, etc.

Using the 50 steps as a reference guide, businesses “can evaluate the policies they’ve already implemented as well as those yet to be put in place.”

Armor Office Printing reveals that they “undertook an assessment of the 22 RCE steps directly related to their business activity”, which is rooted in remanufacturing and reusing printer cartridges. The analysis conducted by the company has revealed the following strengths, according to Armor:

• Better production:
  • Remanufacturing of OWA cartridges, 100 percent traceable, measurable and transparent, and 100 percent recovery of used cartridges
  • Largest employer in France in the sector
  • Responsible production with an environmental management system and a tripling certified plant (ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001)

• Better consumption: 
  • Being a proponent of the circular economy ensuring the supply, collection, reuse of cartridges and material recycling.
  • Obtaining eco-labels (Nordic Ecolabel, NF Environnement, Blue Angel)
  • The environmental labelling of the cartridges concerned (use of natural resources compared to the consumption induced by the use of original cartridges)

• Better waste management:
  • Integrated and free collection system with our OWA offer with the assurance that consumables are collected, recycled and 100 percent recovered
  • Using the TRIMAN logo system to help citizens sort their recycling since 2008.
  • In accordance with the WEEE Directive, Armor Office Printing has been a member of ESR (Eco-System Recylum) since 2018, in order to satisfy all the control and certification processes of Eco-organisms for inkjet cartridges

• Mobilising involved parties:
  • Promoting its services to raise awareness among businesses

Armor concludes, “As with any assessment, some areas for improvement were also identified. Therefore, thanks to the RCE, Armor Office Printing is currently examining these areas closely, in order to best achieve the objectives set by the French Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition.”

Categories : World Focus

Tags : Armor Office Printing Cartridges Circular economy France Recycling Remanufacturing