HP has announced expanded recycling solutions that will help Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) customers reduce the environmental impact of their printing and benefit from the quality of original HP printing supplies.

“As an industry leader in the movement towards more sustainable printing, HP is continuously working with manufacturers, retailers and non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners to create solutions with reduced environmental impact – from the design and manufacture of products through to their use and end-of-life recycling,” the company said.

“We are keen to provide recycling options for our customers in the Middle East to address sustainability issues and cater their needs,” said Kees Verton, manager, printing categories, HP Middle East. “HP offers unique solutions for recycling that reaffirms our commitment to customer success.”

The company’s recycling programme called HP Planet Partners lets customers recycle used original HP cartridges as part of a “closed loop” plastics recycling process. To date, customers worldwide have recycled more than half a billion HP ink and laserjet toner cartridges with HP Planet Partners.

HP Planet Partners is free and available to customers across 34 countries in EMEA. Through this initiative and other efforts, HP aims to recycle 3.5 billion pounds (1.6 million tonnes) of electronic products and supplies by the end of 2015.

HP’s groundbreaking “closed loop” plastics recycling process uses plastic from recycled cartridges and other post-consumer sources to create new original HP cartridges. To date, HP has recycled 1.71 billion pounds (776,000 tonnes) of electronics and original HP print cartridges around the world. HP has also kept 280 million cartridges and more than 2 billion post-consumer plastic bottles out of landfill.

When compared to new (or virgin) plastic, the recycled plastic used in HP ink cartridges since 2010 has up to an estimated 33 per cent smaller carbon footprint – even when the impacts associated with collecting, transporting and processing are taken into account. Using recycled plastics is also estimated to reduce total water used in cartridge production by up to 89 per cent.

HP is the world’s largest provider of information technology infrastructure, software, services and solutions and aims to reduce energy use and waste. “The company sees unprecedented opportunities to transform the way the world lives and works through increasingly sustainable products and solutions that help its customers thrive,” it says.