Canon has launched a large-scale recycling business in Virginia, where it collects and sorts toner cartridges, pellets waste materials, and then forms new toner cartridges from the recycling. #Sustainability#closeupontechnology

Through its internal program, Canon is able to produce 100% recycled HIPS materials.

Canon is a well-known multinational manufacturer of professional and consumer imaging equipment and information systems headquartered in Japan. But what may be less known is its status as an important player in the recycling field.

In 1996, Canon Environmental Technologies (CETI) was established in Gloucester, Virginia to support the company's North American cartridge recycling program, which was the first such program in the industry. Since then, CETI has received more than 500 million pounds of toner cartridges from North and South America.

CETI conducts closed-loop recycling of the toner cartridges it collects, and reuses the materials that enter the toner cartridges to form new toner cartridges. Canon mainly reprocesses HIPS materials and makes them into new ink cartridges with 100% recycled content. HIPS is separated, purified and repelletized for use in the company's internal injection molding operations and overseas facilities.

Toner cartridge parts that are not reused are broken down and separated into other material streams. As Canon follows a strict zero-waste landfill policy, any unusable waste will be recycled through external partners.

According to Tom Keegan, Canon's vice president of engineering and engineering projects, one of the main challenges in their recycling process is material separation. "We receive a truckload of materials every day, and we must ensure that the separation equipment we use is robust and reliable. The equipment needs continuous maintenance to avoid downtime." 

As Wayne Daniel, director of injection molding business planning, pointed out, the incoming resin may have significant differences in composition: “The better the separation at the beginning, the better the final product. From a technical point of view, this is a huge challenge. ."

Using a combination of automated processes, technology, and vision systems — as well as manual operations — toner cartridges are sorted by material type.  

Daniel said that one of the big things Canon must consider when it comes to injection molding is the purity of the material to avoid contaminating the molding process. 

Canon's all-in-one ink cartridges have components that can be recycled and reused by Canon. 

Another important consideration is the change in plastic viscosity. “When you mix materials from different suppliers into a recycling stream, the viscosity of the material is likely to be visible everywhere,” he explained.  

Therefore, the company has conducted extensive research on material viscosity using standard test methods. They use spiral flow molds and melt flow index tests for each batch of products to study viscosity changes. In general, the changes found are within their processing window, so no or minimal changes to the molding process are required.

If necessary, materials can be sorted by flow rate and introduced into the molding process under controlled conditions. "In this way, we know which material's viscosity helps to adapt to changes," Daniel said.

"The better you separate at the beginning-the better the final product." 

"In general, the processing parameters will not change too much-just how close we are to the initial setup and processing window to allow any changes," Daniel pointed out. 

Canon has established a pilot process and a research laboratory equipped with small equipment that can receive returned products and run through a small process, which helps to deal with any problems in the laboratory instead of immediately putting it into use. It goes through their production process. 

"As an end user, you are essentially your own customer, which provides you with a data feedback loop for shaping and sharing data with the internal recycling team. This promotes continuous improvement by leaps and bounds," Daniel said. 

Daniel added that Canon also provides recyclers' services to others. They have recycled materials in their inventory that are sold to external suppliers, such as HIPS with or without flame retardants. The company also recycles toner as part of the recycling process, which can be used as a colorant or filler for other plastics. 

For companies that want to participate more in recycling, Canon's Keegan recommends that they ensure that recyclability is included in the initial design, focus on the materials used, and have a cost-effective way to sort and recycle them. 

For the future, Keegan said that CETI is studying the chemical recycling process. "We focus on mechanical recycling, but some materials we cannot effectively recycle in this way. Therefore, we are looking for companies that have made progress in chemical recycling. We want to investigate and work with them to better understand this process. What kind of output and whether this is a good economic investment for us." 

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