How The Price of Printers is Affected by WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive 2002/96/EC) Dale Scott ece80238

The printer.. The printer itself comes in two main forms or variations. These are the Inkjet and the Laserjet. Since the release of newer and more modern Laserjet printers the need for inkjet has gradually decreased and been replaced by Laserjet.

Cost difference.. The cost difference between a Laserjet and Inkjet around the same specification (printing speed, capacity) is very noticeable as it can come round to around £70-£80 difference. (Prices in comparison to

What makes it cost more? The first and most obvious reason would be that the Laserjet itself provides a better service to the user and much better quality. The more important factor is the legislation and requirements that surround the product itself. This can be mainly traced back to recycling of products.

Recycling On the 2 nd of January 2007, it became UK law that all companies enforced and complied with WEEE. (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive 2002/96/EC)

WEEE WEEE itself aims to reduce the amount of waste from electronic products that we as consumers produce and also that industries create. The directive gives goals on recycling and reusing for each individual company.

HP LaserJet CP1215 Colour Laser Printer This particular model of HP LaserJet printer is one of the lower price ranges available, and is estimated £134 incVAT (averaged from

How is WEEE enforced? “In packaging, we minimize materials, utilize recycled and recyclable materials when possible, and reduce packaging size and weight to improve transportation fuel efficiency. “ * This is a direct quote taken from HP about measures taken to comply with WEEE and their contribution to recycling.

What does HP do to recycle? HP offer a wide selection of things to do with old products. These vary from exchanging them for the same product when its expired its lifetime, trading it in for cash or “donating” it back so that the product can then be stripped down and recycled. HP’s achieved an aim of 1 billion British pounds in their recycling goal in 2007 and aim for 2 Billion in 2011.

What does this do to the price? As the packaging is decreased in both volume and materials it would therefore cost less, and when the components contained within the product are recycled this should also decrease the price. Also as HP do not charge for taking the printer away to be recycled the overall charge from these factors is relatively low. Although this is not the case with the products price.

How it really affects the price The WEEE directive aims for a free service when taking old products to be recycled. This however does not work out cost effectively when compared to the overall process of recycling the product.

The recycling process When the printer is sent to be recycled, it is stripped down and then separated out into two main sections. The metal and plastic is taken from the product so it can be reused and the components then get taken and sorted to what can be reused and what needs to be disposed of separately.

The overall cost So with the added expenses of transportation and maintaining the areas to recycle and reuse the materials and components, it then needs to be considered in the price of the product. This is then added into the cost of the product instead of being charged as a separate fee. In January 2007 the prices of printers increased to cover the overall costs to keep the recycling manageable. So if we take the HP laserjet mentioned earlier, we can then deduce its original price by deducting the £30-35 estimated from recycling. This brings the product down to roughly £100.

Legislation affects So its clear to see that the process of recycling and reusing components and materials from old products has an outcome on the price of a product. For example the older the model, the cheaper it will be to buy as the components inside will not be of as much use than the components of a newer, improved model.

References – Recycling Process PDF – HP (Hewlett Packard) – HP (Hewlett Packard) – HP (Hewlett Packard) – Research and Markets (.com) – HP (Hewlett Packard) – Wikipedia (British) – HP (Hewlett Packard) – HP ( Hewlett Packard)