SmallBizResource Blog -- Business Know-How

Get A Little Greener, HP

Posted by Janet Attard, Courtesy of Business Know-How Thursday, Sep 25, 2008, 08:58 AM ET

The newest HP printer in our office needed a new ink cartridge. I had purchased the extra large black ink cartridge (74XL), which says you get three times more prints than the standard-size cartridge, so I expected it to be larger than the regular-size version. But when I ripped open the cardboard box the cartridge was packaged in, I was surprised to see that it took up less than half of the space of the box.

A cardboard divider inside the box separated the box into two sections and kept the cartridge in place so it didn't shift or rattle when the box was moved. The other section of the box, which was big enough to contain another cartridge, was empty.

The cartridge was encased in a cellophane wrapper, packaged with a tiny envelope folded so it would be read like a brochure. The outside of it was green with white headline type and text. It read, "Free Recycling! Return your empty HP cartridge for recycling now."

When I unfolded the brochure/envelope, more text told me to recycle the cartridge "into raw materials for use in new products. It's free. It's easy." When the envelope was opened all the way so you could insert the cartridge, there was additional text that read, "Thank you for being environmentally responsible."

Now, I'm happy that HP encourages people to recycle cartridges and makes it so easy to do so. But what puzzles me is why HP is shipping products in boxes twice the size of what is actually needed, which wastes one of our natural resources. (Considering that the cartridges get shipped to stores and warehouses, the oversized packaging is probably wasting gasoline, too. You could pack two truckloads of cartridges into a single truck if the packaging was half the size.)

So, HP, if you're reading this, a suggestion: Be more environmentally friendly yourself. Redesign your packaging to fit the actual size of your products.

And while you're at it, consider putting more ink in those extra large cartridges so consumers can print more before they have to replace the cartridge. They run out of ink so fast that they're probably giving environmentalists nightmares about new mountain ranges being formed made up entirely of discarded ink-jet printer cartridges.

I know I'd be willing to pay more for a printer if I didn't have to replace the cartridges so often. I bet other small business owners -- on the lookout for ways to go green -- would, too.

Business Know-How | Green