Think Globally Act Locally, ink refill kits, recycle waste NZ

Think Globally Act Locally

At Second Image we have discovered that the first thing to do is alter your mindset and decide that recycling and reuse is a priority. When you have done that it is surprising how much of an impact you can have on the waste stream.

Of course, the fact that a major product supplied by Second Image is remanufactured toner cartridges, which is friendly to the environment in itself, helped us to change as we were starting from a "green" perspective in any event.

Although it may take a little effort there are some benefits. A small one for us is the fact that our rubbish wheelibin is collected fortnightly rather than weekly and we are aiming at reducing this to a monthly collection, so that's a cost reduction.

Our current premises

When we moved into our current premises, just over five years ago, we took one fluorescent tube out of every light fitting. Therefore we are using half the electricity for our lighting and there is no practical impact on the light we need to work under. This may not work for everyone but, in our case, it is a small and effective way of cutting both costs and waste.

We need to leave some computers turned on overnight for backup purposes but we routinely turn off all monitors and printers at the end of each day.

The things that cost us money are the hire of a cardboard cage for waste cardboard (we share this with a neighbouring business), the hire of wheelibins for waste paper, glass and plastic and the removal of polystyrene to the recycling centre in Porirua.

We sell the scrap metal (which is a by product of toner cartridge remanufacture) but tend to spend that money on our Friday afternoon drinks!!

The things specific to our business, unusable ink and toner cartridges, and "dead" printers, are sent to other remanufacturers for reuse or are recycled through an OEM programme. Customers are actively encouraged to return empty ink and toner cartridges for reuse and recycling and they are given a guarantee that none of these items will go to a landfill. They will all be reused or recycled in some way.

In fact Second Image now has a written Environmental Guarantee.

Also through membership of the Australasian Cartridge Remanufacturers Association (ACRA) www.acra.asn.au Second Image participates in industry activity and initiatives to encourage the use of reused and recycled products.

Our current premises

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