How sustainability is sparking print hardware innovation
February 24, 2024
Articles, Sustainability, Trends
Overall, 65% of channel partners in Quocirca’s Channel Sustainability Trends 2023 study confirm strong customer interest in more energy-efficient printer or multi-function print (MFP) hardware. Sustainability-led offerings represent a bright spot for revenue growth for many channel partners. More than one-fifth (22%) of respondents expect over 30% of revenue to come from sustainable products and services in 2025, compared to 8% in 2023.This presents a unique opportunity for the print channel to boost sales and unlock new revenue streams, even in a challenging market.
Quocirca’s research continues to show that organisations see sustainability as a strong focus point. Not only is this to meet the demands from their own customers and other stakeholders, but the increasing raft of legal demands around meeting ever more stringent targets in many areas means organisations face severe financial impacts if they do not manage to stay ahead of local, regional, and global environmental laws.
Customer organisations respond to various internal and external pressures, particularly when it comes to the need for regulatory compliance. Channel partners may be some of the best positioned to assist throughout this journey – for instance, by helping customers implement and operate a more efficient and sustainable print infrastructure, which then also serves to demonstrate the channel’s own environmental credentials.
Tackling the overall environmental impact of the supply chain has become critical as the low-hanging Scope 1 and 2 emissions reductions give way to the more complex but significant Scope 3 embodied carbon emissions tranche. At the base of this remains an investment in hardware that not only is more environmentally sustainable in itself, but also supports desired sustainable applications, services, and overall solutions.
Vendor partners are already working to improve their products accordingly. They are also aligning more closely with channel partners’ top requirements, such as increased detail on lifecycle impact and carbon footprint.
Overall, 69% of channel partners report ‘strong’ or ‘moderate’ customer interest in sustainable products and services. Beyond the 65% that report customer focus on more energy-efficient hardware, 29% say customers show interest in products incorporating a high level of recycled materials, and 30% find customers interested in reducing end-of-life waste.
A showcase of hardware advances
Quocirca’s Sustainability Leaders 2023 report, published in November 2023, highlights the ambitious net-zero targets of print manufacturers. Some aim to reach net-zero emissions by 2040, and many are deepening their sustainability focus and responding to the increased scrutiny of print supplier sustainability, including from regulators.
Refurbished and remanufactured hardware may help meet customer requirements. Hardware vendors are already striving for lower raw materials impact and end-of-life environmental effects. They are managing this through higher usage of recycled materials in devices, with more of the materials and components in modern devices able to be recovered and reused in the next generation of printers and MFPs.
Extension of device life is also being managed through the use of remanufactured product lines. Here, rather than a brand-new device being created, old devices are checked and refurbished, with only broken or overly worn assemblies and subsystems necessary for the device to work being replaced. Hardware impact reduction initiatives sponsored by vendors are gathering momentum, and the latter are also improving their offerings’ support of performance monitoring and reporting solutions.
Quocirca’s Sustainability Leaders 2023 study delivers a range of detail on approaches taken by many leading vendors. Most vendors have been validated by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) across Scope 1, 2, and 3, and more vendors are providing interim emissions reduction progress updates.
The market lacks standardisation, but even that represents a gap for representation that print hardware might exploit. Hardware vendors can maximise promotional efforts such as energy efficiency labelling and accreditations by ensuring transparency. Hardware products, similarly, are emerging where manufacturers have focused heavily on their life cycle, recycling, remanufacturing, reuse, waste disposal, and overall resource use.
Desirable new energy efficiency technologies now being rolled out include lower-temperature toner fusing, deeper sleep modes, and faster start-up times. Growing environmental concerns are also driving demand for inkjet printers and MFPs because of their lower energy consumption and waste generation compared to some laser alternatives. However, to capitalise on both features and certifications, vendors and their partners should work toward ensuring buyers can make more direct and meaningful comparisons between products.
Working with print manufacturers recognised for sustainability practices can provide partners with access to valuable resources and expertise, improving their own sustainability efforts.
To guide customers with decisions around lowering the environmental impact of their print setting, channel partners should also expand service offerings to include sustainability assessments and consultancy.
Achieving circularity of products and services
The concept of a ‘circular economy’ may be useful to apply when considering strategies. In short, this circularity promotes environmental sustainability, including emissions reduction, by closing the traditional ‘take, make, dispose’ approach. Organisations adopt new ways to extend life cycles by sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products.
Within manufacturing itself, approaches can incorporate a reduced carbon footprint by conserving resources via maintenance, quality, and production processes. Standardisation of parts and materials can also play a role. Appropriate hardware advances range from incorporation of recyclable or even biodegradable parts to overall resource use reduction, including energy-saving technologies and features that ease the overlay of add-on services or support.
This could dovetail with innovations, enabling adoption of more sustainable toner and other consumables, including paper. Options that appear counterintuitive initially could prove highly attractive to customers that seek to future-proof themselves – such as backwards-compatible solutions that can run on hardware devices once considered obsolete.
Sustainability can tip the scale for customers. Alongside device sustainability improvements, if print vendors continue to work on lowering emissions across their operations and supply chains in ways that flow through to the customer in innovative ways, particularly around Scope 3 data, many existing and prospective customers will find the proposition more compelling.
Combining this with improved hardware innovation, design, and development, while introducing more recycled materials and using refurbished and remanufactured products, can make it a far easier sell when up against competition.
Ultimately, sustainability presents a significant opportunity for channel partners to boost revenue and thrive in the evolving market.
Find out more in Quocirca’s Sustainability Leaders 2023 report.
