TOKYO, March 23, 2010—Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, HP Japan and Lexmark announced today that, as part of their Ink Cartridge Homecoming Project, a collaborative effort to collect used consumer ink cartridges, the six companies would begin making donations to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, HQ: Nairobi, Kenya) on April 1, 2010.
The Ink Cartridge Homecoming Project, launched in April 2008, is a cooperative effort by six print device manufacturers and the Japan Post Group to collect used ink cartridges. The project was started with the belief that companies marketing inkjet printers have a social responsibility to recycle used ink cartridges and should work towards the creation of a recycling-based society through conservation efforts.
Representing a new facet of the Ink Cartridge Homecoming Project, the six companies will provide UNEP with donations to support its various activities targeting such global environmental issues as global warming, climate change, threats to biodiversity, and the efficient use of resources. By providing indirect assistance to UNEP activities, including forest protection and biodiversity conservation, the project will attain a higher level of social significance and take an increasingly active approach in global environmental protection.
Every six months, the Ink Cartridge Homecoming Project will make a donation to UNEP of three yen for every ink cartridge returned to any of the ink cartridge collection boxes installed at 3,639* major post offices and select local government offices across Japan. The first donation period will run from October 2009 to March 2010, with subsequent donations to be made every six months thereafter.
The six companies would like to ask its customers to help promote ink cartridge collection and recycling in an effort to contribute to society through donations to support UNEP's environmental conservation activities.
The Ink Cartridge Homecoming Project's UNEP donation activities will be featured at the Ink Cartridge Homecoming Project booth during the Interactive Fair for Biodiversity, which will be held concurrently with the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10) in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, from October 11 to 29, 2010.
This marks the first time for the private sector in Japan to contribute to environmental conservation activities in the Asia-Pacific region through donations to UNEP, an indication of UNEP's strong support for the project's cause and content.
* Collection box introducing UNEP donation activities (to replace currently installed boxes in June)
