HP (NYSE:HPQ) recycled nearly 250 million pounds of hardware and print cartridges worldwide in 2007–an increase of approximately 50% over the previous year, the company announced, and the equivalent of more than double the weight of the Titanic.
HP, which is one of the world’s largest IT companies, said its recycling program, which began in 1987, also reused 65 million pounds of hardware last year, refurbishing it for resale or donation, increasing its annual reuse rate by 30%.
Plastics and metals recovered from products recycled by HP have been used to make a range of new products, including auto body parts, clothes hangers, plastic toys, fence posts, serving trays and roof tiles.
HP said it surpassed its goal to recycle 1 billion pounds of technology equipment and is well on its way to reaching its new goal to recover 2 billion pounds of products by the end of 2010.
Last week, HP announced it has developed an engineering breakthrough that enables the use of post-consumer recycled plastics in the production of new Original HP inkjet print cartridges. According to HP, the recycling process is able to combine multiple sources and grades of recycled plastics–from everyday water bottles to highly technical HP inkjet cartridges.
In addition to closing the design loop, HP says using recycled content saves energy and keeps plastic out of landfills. Since first piloting the process, HP says it has used enough recycled plastic to fill more than 200 tractor trailers.
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