Sao Paulo, Brazil.- If you are one of the people who cares about the planet when purchasing technological equipment, there is already an option to Sustainable manufacturing focused on circularity: The HP company has an innovative model that includes recycled material for the manufacture of laptops, printers and cartridges, products that, from their origin to their final disposal, allow us to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
In the municipality of Sorocaba, Brazil, which can be reached in less than an hour from Sao Paulo, the leading technology consortium is successfully developing its sustainability strategy for Latin America.
There, printers and laptops are manufactured using a modern process that uses recycled inputs, which come from equipment that, instead of being discarded in polluting landfills, are transformed into tiny plastic particles that are included in the new HP products. confirmed HIGH LEVEL in a tour carried out at the Brazilian plant of this firm.
In this process, the company’s printers stand out, he reported Diego Mutta, HP Circularity Operations Manager in Brazil. These devices have 40% recycled material, while their cartridges have 80% plastic obtained with this model.
Thanks to the firm’s social responsibility policy, the collection of products that are then recycled is carried out by more than 40 Brazilian cooperatives concerned about the environment. All this will allow the company to achieve an ambitious goal: By 2030, most HP equipment will be manufactured from recycled materials.
With this, in just seven years, the consortium aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by 50% as part of its strategy to benefit the environment, which will have favorable effects not only for the climate of our planet, but also for all consumers. of technology.
In fact, HP’s circularity model allows the prices of its equipment to be lower than those of its competing companies, precisely because recycled materials are used in the manufacturing of printers, cartridges and laptops.
In turn, with this strategy, the company’s perceptions generated by the sale of products that reduce environmental impact (sustainable income), In 2022, they represented more than 60% of their total income in the world, according to HP’s Sustainable Impact Report for last year.
If we consider that humans create more than 50 million tons of electronic waste annually, and that only 20% is reused, according to data from the report Global E-waste Monitor (global electronic waste monitor) prepared by the UN, it is clear that the opportunities to obtain profits by producing with recycled materials are very broad.
Planet Partners
In its industrial complex in Sorocaba, Brazil, HP receives waste technological products from the cooperatives with which it is associated. Are computer equipment that is not thrown away, but are recycled as part of the program “HP Planet Partners”, the emblem of the circular economy promoted by the American firm.
In the South American country, the collection begins in the same stores where the brand’s computers and equipment are sold, which allows consumers to leave the computer items that they no longer use, making them participate in the consortium’s sustainability policy, he explained. Jessica Texeira, HP Sustainability Manager in Brazil.
The equipment is then taken to the Sorocaba recycling center, where it is separated by type of material and color, and then completely dismantled. This waste is introduced into a huge crusher that prepares what will be the plastic to be used in the manufacture of new technological devices.
At the end of the process, the recycled plastic acquires a shape similar to spaghetti, that is the raw material that is later combined with other materials for the manufacture of printers and laptop computers, products that in turn are transported in the same factory in boxes made with recycled paper.
Until now, This manufacturing ecosystem has allowed HP to reduce its carbon footprint by 39%, Therefore, attempts are being made to replicate it outside of Brazil in countries such as Mexico or Argentina.
“Taking the first steps towards a goal” is much simpler, but the stretch that follows the objective, which in this case is achieving a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions, “involves additional challenges and will require more actions,” explained Kami Saidi, head of Manufacturing Operations and Circularity of the company.
The challenge is not minor, especially because In nations like Mexico, the culture of recycling still needs to be strengthened among the population. In any case, the company already has its sights on our country to -soon- reproduce here the successful model of Brazil, which stands out because in Sorocaba both the recycling plant and the manufacturing space are located in the same complex.
With this, sustainability increases in the production of equipment that is exported throughout Latin America, closing a cycle that until a few years ago was unthinkable in the technology consumption market.
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Surya Palacios Journalist and lawyer, specialist in legal and human rights analysis. She has been a reporter, radio host and editor.