Produce – Designing sustainable products |
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Our overriding commitment to the environment is to create greater value from fewer resources. We design products with the environment in mind so, from the very beginning of the product creation process, we look at reducing product size, reducing new raw materials and incorporating recycled and renewable materials. These and other actions we take help counter climate change.
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For example, our imageRUNNER ADVANCE range incorporates recycled material and several of our calculators are made from 100% recycled plastic from Canon products. Canon invested ¥315.8 billion in R&D last year, equating to 8.5% of sales. Using advanced technology, we avoid the need to create prototype products but are still able to evaluate and incorporate design improvements. We have developed a method to set CO2 reduction targets at the design stage, covering each part of a product’s lifecycle including production and use. For our imageRUNNER ADVANCE series this resulted in substantial energy savings in use.
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| Canon, and 16 other brands, signed a European Union Voluntary Agreement (VA) on improving the environmental performance of imaging equipment in June 2011. This self-regulatory initiative is driven by the imaging equipment manufacturers and has the support of the European Commission. Under this VA, we commit to applying the latest international standards to the ecodesign of our product parts. For example, printer parts must be designed to facilitate recycling.
The VA includes concrete commitments on energy (Energy Star®); paper savings (duplex enabled by default); and information on end-of-life options for consumables. Under the VA, manufacturers will also give explicit guidance to users on using printing paper responsibly. Find out more about the EU Voluntary Agreement. |
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| We design our products to meet or go beyond all relevant regulations, with any hazardous substances at or below legal limits. Limits are set out in the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive and the REACH Regulation. We also follow a green procurement programme, checking and monitoring the substances within the products we buy from suppliers. Find out more about our Green Procurement Programme.
In some cases, we go beyond legal requirements by eliminating hazardous substances completely. For example, our imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5000 series is lead free, beyond RoHS. The RoHS Regulation does not apply to medical equipment. However, since 2005, Canon has only created products that meet a level equivalent to the RoHS requirements. Find out more about our medical equipment products. |
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| To reduce our reliance on petroleum-based resources, we are developing renewable materials. With Toray Industries, we have produced a bioplastic that has achieved the highest rating for flame retardance. This means we can use it on external parts from buttons to large exterior panels. We estimate this new plastic could reduce manufacturing-related CO2 emissions by 20% compared to conventional plastic. Our imagePRESS C7010VP and imagePRESS C6010 digital production printers incorporate bioplastic parts. |
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|  Reducing the size and weight of products, without affecting how they work, and strengthening the body reduces resources and means we need less or lighter packaging. We also reduce packaging where possible. Both these actions help improve load efficiency when shipping our products and save CO2. Read more about how we improve logistics.
Packaging on some inkjet cartridges has been reduced by around 50% by weight and most are packaged in cardboard, which is easily recycled by customers. Where inkjet cartridges are packaged in plastic blisters, the blisters are made of at least 70% recycled plastic. The shock-absorbing foam packaging required for the PIXMA MG6100 series has been reduced by 19% compared to earlier models. Read more about out recycling activities. |
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| To date, the majority of our products have been manufactured in Asia. Production in Europe has focused mainly on our laser toner cartridge recycling programme at Canon Bretagne and remanufacturing of multifunction devices at Canon Giessen. In addition, our associate company NT-ware in Germany produces uniFLOW software.
Canon’s two new group companies, printing company Océ and optical specialist Optopol, bring additional manufacturing facilities to Europe. Future plans include implementing three regional headquarters in Europe, the USA and Japan. This will include increasing research and development activity and manufacturing capability in each region. |
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