Hewlett-Packard Co. is putting old plastic to new use.
Recycled plastics are going into the company’s new inkjet print cartridges. It’s the outgrowth of a small but significant research effort at the Palo Alto-based company, which reported sales of $104 billion in 2007.
Company engineers and subcontractors say they have found a way to put shredded plastic from old printer cartridges, as well as resin from used plastic beverage bottles, together with other additives to make new plastic.
HP is still toying with the possibilities of this recycled material, and part of the work is going on behind closed doors at its Rancho Bernardo plant.
Company officials declined to give details of the design and development effort.
They said they would rather talk about a success in making printer cartridges from the recycled material. By now, HP estimates it has diverted enough plastic to fill more than 200 big-rig trailers.
Research and development on the cartridges was a five-year project.
“We went through hundreds of engineering hours and dozens of trials to get it right,” said Scott Canonico, who works at HP’s Corvallis, Ore. plant as environmental program manager for HP Supplies.
The company shipped prototype cartridges in 2005 and production “hit its stride” last year, the executive said. HP used more than 5 million pounds of recycled plastic in inkjet cartridges in 2007, and plans to use 10 million pounds this year.
Virgin Plastic
A key part of the process was developing a material that had the same positive properties as virgin plastic. It had to be durable and colorfast. It had to stand up to hot and cold temperatures during shipping, and in the printer.
“They did not want to develop a substandard material,” said Canonico.
Doug Smock, a contributing editor to Reed Business Information’s Design News, said manufacturers have to take extra care when developing engineering plastics -as opposed…