HP promises 'significant changes' across portfolio as it looks to cut plastic usage

HP's chief sustainability officer said the vendor is in a position to make "significant changes" across its portfolio as it looks to cut the amount of plastic it uses in its products and packaging.

Released last week, HP's 2020 Sustainable Impact Report included a new goal of eliminating 75 per cent of single-use plastic packaging by 2025, compared with 2018.

Speaking about the report during a webinar last night, HP's chief sustainability officer, Ellen Jackowski, said onlookers should expect significant changes to HP's products as it thinks more holistically about how to reduce its plastic usage.

She highlighted HP's Tango printer, which is made out of 30 per cent recycled plastic.

"That's a big number, but we know the vision needs to be even bigger," she said.

"We also, with the HP Tango, delivered a version called the HP Tango Terra, where we gave ourselves the challenge of thinking holistically about this product. Can we deliver this in a way where the packaging has been completely rethought and there is zero plastic packaging? Can we deliver this in a way that, in addition to recycled content in the printer itself, we have recycled content in the cartridge and perhaps even ocean-bound plastic? Well, we did it in this printer. And we're also paying very close attention from a forestation perspective e- all HP-branded paper is zero deforestation.

"We know we can make significant changes across our portfolio, not just in what we make in the product, but the packaging, the recycling etc - and think very holistically about this process."

Jackowski admitted HP carries a heavy burden when it comes to plastic.

"As human beings, we've come to love plastic, and its importance to our society continues to grow. We make printers out of plastic. We make PCs out of plastic. We run plastic material through our 3D printers. So we have a responsibility to deal with this material in a responsible way."

On the call, HP UK managing director George Brasher added that HP has a goal of using 30 per cent post-consumer plastic in its PCs and printers by 2025.

Talking about HP's wider sustainability goals, Brasher said that HP's various stakeholders - including customers, employees and investors - are all expecting HP to take a leadership role on the topic.

"If you go back to the previous century, we saw sustainability as a nice to have. Typically, it was an extra bullet point at the end of a business plan. [Now there is] not only a moral imperative, but a business imperative.

"What we've seen from customers is $1.6bn in new revenue, where sustainability was a factor. That's a 69 per cent increase year on year."

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