Gasoline isn’t the only widely used consumable that uses petroleum. Laser toner uses it as well, although companies like SoyPrint are replacing petroleum with renewable substitutes that release lower emissions and take less energy to remove during the paper recycling process. Now we get word that Ricoh has recently followed suit and created its own reduced petroleum toner. It’s called “for E toner,” and it consists of biomass content derived from organic material such as plants. The basic hook for consumers is that by replacing something non-renewable and unrecyclable like petroleum with something renewable like biomass, we’re conserving the planet’s resources while reducing waste and emissions.
for E toner is only available in Japan for now. But if it does well over there, it’s only a matter of time before it comes over here. The interesting aspect of this story to me is that Ricoh is the first big name company to go low petro, as far as I know. Considering that it probably takes longer for new products to get approved in bigger companies, it speaks to the high perceived demand around the world for greener printer consumables.
(Story via The Recycler; Photo via Morguefile)
