Environmental Office Solutions (EOS), based in East Hartford, Connecticut, is keeping over 20 million pounds of office waste and electronic materials out of landfills per year. The company is a national leader in recycling of toner cartridges, inkjet cartridges, cellphones and printer parts. Printer cartridges, including both toner cartridges, used in laser printers, and inkjet cartridges are major sources of office waste going into landfills.
Chris Stoddard, CEO and President, and Mark Tosi, Executive Vice President, founded Environmental Office Solutions in 1996. The company maintains facilities for collections, processing and warehousing in East Hartford and also in the Los Angeles, California area.
EOS focuses on the concept of recycle and reuse, where the materials they collect are suitable for reuse through remanufacturing processes. The largest volumes of material collected are empty printer cartridges that are sold to companies that remanufacture the cartridges into products that are fully functional and then sell the remanufactured cartridges to businesses and consumers. All products that EOS collects are processed through proprietary inspection and quality control processes to ensure they can be used down-stream.
Remanufactured printer cartridges sell for substantially less than new OEM cartridges and also provide environmental benefits by keeping materials out of landfills and not requiring the raw materials, oil and energy to produce new cartridges. Remanufactured cartridges represent about 25% to 30% share of the overall market in the United States.
Even though individual printer cartridges are rather small in size, the vast quantities consumed in the United States make a significant impact on potential for total waste and requirements for new materials. As an example, for every 100,000 toner cartridges recycled by EOS, over 150,000 pounds of plastic, over 50,000 gallons of oil and over 20,000 pounds of aluminum are saved. Through the efforts of EOS, over 290,000 cubic feet per month of materials are being diverted from landfills and put to good use.
“Recycling is our passion here at EOS,” said Chris Stoddard. “We try to set an example with our closed-loop, chain-of-custody, zero-waste policy, where we process over 800 tons of materials per month and nothing from our business ends up in landfills. The vast majority of materials collected are used in product remanufacturing. Additionally, we bale and recycle all packing materials, cardboard, paper and any plastic materials that come with the product. The remaining balance is converted into energy.”
Stoddard continued, “It takes many decades for any decomposition in the landfill for the products we recycle, so responsible recycling today is essential for the environmental well being of tomorrow’s generations.”
Certifications relating to recycling are important considerations for separating companies that are seriously committed to recycling. EOS is certified under R2:2013, Responsible Recycling Practices for Electronics Recyclers. This standard establishes a hierarchy for the safe and responsible handling of electronic waste through reuse and resource recovery. The company is also certified under ISO 14001, which is an international specification that defines a set of environmental management systems. This standard helps organizations to protect the environment, to prevent pollution and to improve environmental performance. EOS has also been certified for OSHAS 18001, an international specification for occupational health and safety management systems.
For more information about Environmental Office Solutions and recycling visit,
http://www.EOSUSA.com.