WEEE Regulations
Ricoh offers customers a green solution to used equipment disposal
Ricoh UK Green Centre
Ricoh UK has a Green Centre, where customers can safely dispose of used office peripherals such as printers, copiers, and multifunctional devices and supplies.
Legal and environmental necessity
The Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive became law in 2003. It legislates for the environmentally friendly treatment and disposal of all used electronic devices. Although the directive holds manufacturers accountable for the disposal of used goods, businesses will no longer be able to put electrical and electronic devices in their regular waste collection.
With increasing numbers of businesses adopting green procurement strategies, the centre provides a cost effective and convenient way for Ricoh customers to bring office equipment disposal in line with their other environmental policies and the law.
Simple service with minimum cost to customer
Ricoh takes the machines to the centre and cover all the costs of treatment and disposal, leaving the customer to cover only the cost of collection.
The Centre dismantles end-of-life products and recycles or re-uses the parts and raw materials. In addition, Ricoh may use some of the parts on-site to refurbish black and white MFPs, which they then make available for re-sale.
Not just for Ricoh products
The centre was the first of its kind to be set up by a UK office peripherals manufacturer and as such, Ricoh's Environmental and Compliance manager Tim Taylor believes that many businesses will be quick to support this programme:
"A large number of our customers are supporting environmentally-friendly policies across their businesses. The centre now allows them to extend this green approach to their equipment disposal. Alongside its own used products, Ricoh will also collect and safely dispose of any other brand of used printers, copiers and multifunctional devices, enabling businesses to dispose of their used office peripherals in one convenient and cost effective way."
