Xerox Details Its Environmental Ups and Downs
November
2008 Between 2006 and 2007, Xerox cut its energy consumption and
greenhouse gas emissions, but also increased it water use and produced
a smaller percentage of Energy Star products.Xerox lays out its
environmental performance for 2007, compared both to 2006 results and
its long-term goals, in its 2008 global citizenship report.While the
company cut energy consumption 2 percent when compared to 2006, it also
increased water use 2 percent due to increased production, warmer
weather (more water used in air conditioning) and one-time operational
demands.Xerox also brought itself closer to its goal to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent between 2002 and 2012. Its original
goal was to cut emissions 10 percent in that time period, but upped the
goal after hitting 10 percent by 2006. By the end of 2007, Xerox cut
its emissions 21 percent compared to 2002.
All of the products
Xerox produced in 2006 that were Energy Star-eligible received that
rating, but only 80 percent of its eligible products in 2007 got the
rating. That was due, Xerox said, to changes in the Energy Star
specifications, and the company plans to have 90 percent of its
eligible products meet the new specs by 2010.Xerox has also taken up a
number of initiatives with far-reaching implications for its supply
chain, from reducing raw materials, energy use and waste to increasing
reuse and recycling.
Through its Xerox Green World Alliance
program with customers, Xerox took back 1.9 million ink cartridges and
toner containers to be recycled in 2007 and processed 1.2 million
pounds of postconsumer waste toner for reuse.Xerox has been designing
products more with reuse in mind, creating machines with fewer parts
that can be disassembled easily. Equipment that is returned to Xerox
can be rebuilt to as-new performance specifications reusing 70-90
percent of its components by weight.
The company is also
designing products whose parts can be interchanged, using core
components and modular designs, so that machines can either be rebuilt
as the same model, rebuilt as a new model or used for parts. Products
that are being designed based on previous models may have 60 percent of
its parts by weight in common with previous equipment.The company’s
citizenship report also covers what Xerox has been doing in terms of
customer needs, employees, diversity, worker injuries, Xerox Foundation
giving and community involvement.