The Environment

As a division of Seiko Epson Corporation whose corporate roots are in "co-existence with nature", Epson Australia will actively strive to provide products and services in a manner that fully supports our corporate philosophy of protecting the earth's environment and cooperating with the local community.

To achieve its Environmental Policy, Epson Australia will:

• Ensure that environmental considerations are included in all aspects of our business planning and operations, consistent with sound business management practices and our responsibilities as a good corporate citizen.
• Strive to continually reduce the environmental impact of our business by conserving the use of raw materials and resources in our operations and services and minimising waste. This will include the promotion of recycling.
• Comply with all relevant environmental laws and regulations, ordinances, and other requirements, and work to prevent pollution and adverse environmental impacts by implementing environmental management practices and procedures.
• Work to support the intent of legislation and the policies of environmental agencies and contribute to community discussion where these relate to our operations.
• Implement and maintain an Environmental Management System in accordance with the International Environmental Management Standard ISO 14001.
• Set and use environmental objectives and targets to drive performance improvements. We have implemented monitoring and reporting procedures to communicate our performance internally and to relevant external interested parties.
• Strive to continuously improve our environmental performance and to reduce our environmental impacts through regular review of our activities, practices and procedures. We will strive to realise our environmental philosophy by having all members of the company embrace this Policy.

Environmental Achievement

As part of Epson Australia's program of environmental awareness and consideration, it was accredited to the international standard ISO 14001 - Environmental Management Systems in May 2001.

Epson Australia has been recognised for its energy efficiency projects at the NSW Energy and Water Green Globe Awards, winning Gold for the Energy Smart Business Program.

This award was in recognition of Epson Australia having upgraded at least 75% of its operation to use energy more efficiently. By implementing energy efficient projects across their operations Epson Australia has, to date, saved over 842 tonnes of carbon dioxide. At the awards night, Mr Nemtzow, Director-General of DEUS made comment that.

“Epson Australia’s forward-thinking approach stands them in good stead in the years to come, because not only are they helping businesses to save money on their energy bills, they are ahead of the game in teaching others how to manage their resources more efficiently.”

“Epson Australia is making an important contribution to the NSW Government’s long-term strategy to reduce the State’s greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

Epson Australia did not stop there.  It continues to set aggressive targets for reduction of CO2 gas emissions.  It achieved over a 10% reduction in 06/07 and is on target to achieve a further 7% reduction in the 07/08 year.

Environmental Activities

As part of its Environmental Management System and Corporate Social Responsibility, Epson Australia is currently engaging in the following environmental activities.

Cartridges For Planet Ark

Epson is a founding member of this promotion to recycle ink cartridges and toner cartridges.

The aim of the program is to reduce some of the 5,000 tonnes of cartridge waste going to landfill each year by recycling 100% of the cartridges and their contents into other products.

Collection boxes for the C4PA program can be found in most Australia Post, Officeworks, Harvey Norman, Dick Smith and Tandy outlets.

Epson is a foundation sponsor of this program.

See www.planetark.com.au for more details.

Recycling of Paper / Packaging

Epson has introduced a program at its head office in North Ryde whereby all paper waste, cardboard waste, bottles, cans and plastic shrink-wrap is recycled. In 2006, we were able to divert over 17,000 kilograms of waste from landfill.

Customers can also return their packaging from new printers to Epson and we will ensure it does not end up in landfill.

In 2006, Epson Australia became a signatory to the revised National Packaging Covenant and has put in place an action plan, out to 2010, to reduce the impact of packaging on the waste stream.

The Covenant is an industry self-regulatory code of practice, which is designed to minimise the environmental impacts arising from disposal of used packaging. By adopting the principles of the packaging Covenant, Epson is ensuring there is less waste to landfill from its operations, all leading to a cleaner environment.

The Epson Australia 2007 Packaging Report, which details achievement against the Action Plan, has been  approved by the National Packaging Covenant and this continues to demonstrate Epson’s initiatives in the environmental arena.

To view Epson Australia's National Packaging Covenant Action Plan, please visit: http://www.packagingcovenant.org.au/documents/File/AP_Epson_06_10_revised.pdf
For more information about the National Packaging Covenant, please visit: http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/waste/covenant/index.html

Recycling of Hardware

Byteback is a free computer takeback program to help people dispose of unwanted computer equipment responsibly and is currently being trialled in several local council areas in Victoria. Epson Australia is one of the founding partners in this venture.

Byteback is an Australian first as government and industry are sharing responsibility for disposing of computer waste safely. Sustainability Victoria is running Byteback in partnership with the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) and founding partner Epson.

For more information please visit Byteback website.

In partnership with SIMS E-Recycling, Epson Australia recycles all non-working and broken products and spare parts. Wherever possible, any obsolete product is also donated to charitable organisations.

Environmental Activity Plan

At the end of each year, Epson Australia compiles an environmental activity plan for the ensuing year. This outlines the particular environmental areas on which it will focus on throughout the year.

For the year ending March 2008, one of the key targets that Epson Australia has set itself is to have 60% of its office and warehouse waste diverted from landfill. Through the efforts of all staff and the continued improvement of our operations, Epson Australia is well on the way to achieving this goal.

Seiko Epson Environmental Vision 2050

Epson is working to preserve the natural environment by providing products that tread lightly on the Earth. For more information view the Seiko Epson Environmental Vision 2050

Other Activities

Recycled rags are used in the repair area for cleaning of machines and tools. The rags are purchased from the St Vincent de Paul Society, which also assists this organisation. In our warehouse we use only biodegradable air filled plastic pockets for packaging.