OREANDA-NEWS. Ricoh has opened a recovery and refilling operation for used MFP toner bottles at a facility in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India.

Reuse of toner bottles contributes to resource conservation which is one of the pillars of Ricoh's environmental management. The new initiative in India enables us not only to reduce the use of new resources, but also to shorten product supply lead time to customers compared to relying on imports. It is also beneficial for reducing environmental impact such as CO2 emissions during transportation as well as optimizing inventory.

The driver behind this action is an "On-demand toner filling machine" that was developed with Ricoh's unique technology for space and cost saving. Ricoh started recovery and refilling of MFP toner bottles in Japan in 2001. This approach has been expanded to four locations in Japan, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, and now India. An increase of varieties of toner that can be refilled and expansion of operation point are considered as a next step.