In an industry first, HP announced it has developed an engineering breakthrough that enables the use of post-consumer recycled plastics in the production of new Original HP inkjet print cartridges.

More than 200 million cartridges have been manufactured using the process thus far. HP used more than 5 million pounds of recycled plastic in its inkjet cartridges last year, and the company is committed to using twice as much in 2008.

The company’s innovative recycling process facilitates the combination of multiple sources and grades of recycled plastics from everyday water bottles to highly technical HP inkjet cartridges.

In addition to closing the design loop, using recycled content saves energy and keeps plastic out of landfills since first piloting the process, HP has used enough recycled plastic to fill more than 200 tractor trailers.

Innovation without compromise

In developing this process, HP engineers, chemists and partners dedicated themselves to finding a way to provide the environmental benefits of using recycled materials while still delivering the uncompromising quality and reliability customers count on from HP.

HP inkjet cartridges returned through HP’s Planet Partners program undergo a multi-phase recycling process that reduces them to raw materials such as plastics and metals. HP combines plastic from the inkjet cartridges with recycled bottle resin and a suite of compounding additives to ensure all recycled materials meet HP’s high-performance standards.

The amount of recycled content in these HP inkjet cartridges may vary between 70 to 100 percent of the total plastic used, but the reliability results for each product are stringently tested and consistent across the lineup.

And unlike companies that simply remanufacture cartridges, HP has found a way to mold these recycled plastic components into new Original HP inkjet cartridges.