HP Receives Recycled Content Validations From UL For Use of Ocean-Bound Plastics

HP Inc., a leading provider of personal systems, printers and 3D printing solutions, and a member of the NextWave Plastics consortium, has earned an industry-first ocean-bound plastics certification from UL. 

This certification applies to five of HP’s resins, each one containing recycled content (from five to 99 percent) that comes from ocean-bound plastic. These resins are used in the manufacture of HP ink cartridges, as well as in the HP Elite Dragonfly laptop; the HP EliteDisplay E273d monitor; and the HP ZBook Studio and ZBook Create mobile workstations—all first in their categories to incorporate ocean-bound plastic. 

This milestone makes HP the first company to achieve such validation per the UL 2809 Environmental Claim Validation Procedure (ECVP) for Recycled Content Standard. And, as part of HP’s certification, the 2809 Standard was updated to include auditing of social responsibility procedures—specifically the social impacts of collecting pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled materials on local economies.

HP’s recovery of ocean-bound plastics currently takes place in Haiti, and its partnership with the First Mile Coalition has helped create more than 1,100 income opportunities for adults there. This work, which has led to the upcycling of more than 1 million pounds of recovered plastic, has also provided 150 children with education, food, and medical assistance. 

As noted by UL, “Recycled content not only speaks to the efficiencies and integrity of [a company’s] supply chain, it also speaks to the commitment [it’s] made to environmental stewardship.”

Efforts such as HP’s “will set the standard for other consumer product companies. [Its] decision to pursue recycled content validation speaks to HP’s commitment to circularity, social responsibility and a more sustainable economy,” says lberto Uggetti, vice president and general manager of UL’s Environment and Sustainability division.

Customers are taking notice as well. Ellen Jackowski, global head of sustainability strategy and innovation at HP, recently told Waste360, “Every year, we’re seeing more customer interest and more requirements around sustainability for our products, and that is fantastic. We are also seeing those changes with our consumer market. We only expect that to increase, and we’ll continue to track it and use it as a powerful proof point for why we need to assess more sustainable solutions and share that information with the world so other companies can see that the market and customers are changing, and that the environmental pressures are there.”

In addition to HP’s internal work to scale its ocean-bound plastic efforts, it is one of ten leading companies currently involved with the NextWave Plastics consortium. This collaborative, open-source initiative is working to develop the first global network of ocean-bound plastics supply chains. NextWave’s 2019 Annual Report states that, over its first two years, member companies have collectively prevented more than 850 metric tons of plastic from entering the ocean. 

HP’s latest commitment is for the inclusion ocean-bound plastic material in all new HP Elite and HP Pro desktop notebook computers launching in 2020. The company has also invested $2 million in a washing line in Haiti, to produce cleaner, higher-quality recycled plastic for use in more HP products.

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