08.04.2016, 03:05

Ricoh Launches Sustainable Products Program

OREANDA-NEWS. April 08, 2016. Ricoh today announced the launch of the "Ricoh Sustainable Products Program" from April 2016, which assesses and evaluates the environmental performance and usability of its products against a defined number of strict standards. Ricoh will certify only those products that are both environmentally-friendly and user-friendly.

This program evaluates Ricoh products in two dimensions, namely environmental-friendliness and user-friendliness. Then Ricoh self-certifies those products that satisfy the specific standards of environmental performance and usability as "Sustainable Products". Those products that demonstrate the industry's top performance will be certified as "Sustainable Products Premium".

Ricoh has set mid-and long-term environmental impact reduction goals, with key target dates being 2020 and 2050, and promotes energy conservation, resource conservation, and pollution prevention in various ways. At the same time, Ricoh is working on the development of environmentally-friendly and user-friendly sustainable products, taking into consideration usability and comfort for everyone who works in the office, including the multi-generational workforce and those with disabilities. Ricoh has actively pursued environmental awards around the world such as ENERGY STAR, Blue Angel (Germany), and Eco Mark (Japan) to ensure that customers feel confident in selecting environmentally-friendly products. With the introduction of this program, we will provide customers with sustainable products that incorporate usability, as well as environmental performance. In addition, we will use this program in the product development process and the future product roadmap so as to enhance the sustainability of all Ricoh products.

Initially, we will implement this program for our office imaging products and production printers to be released in the future. In addition, we will gradually disclose the assessment results for existing products that have already been released.

Ricoh is committed to providing excellence to improve the quality of living and to driving sustainability as stated in its Mission Statement in The RICOH Way, which constitutes the basis of all corporate activities at Ricoh. To achieve this "Mission", we will assess our products using a set of strict standards, and certify sustainable performance in the "Ricoh Sustainable Products Program".

Overview of Ricoh Sustainable Products Program

1. Six point product assessment criteria

(1) Environmental-friendliness	Energy efficiency	Evaluates the energy efficiency of a product, including the TEC value^1 and the energy consumption in sleep mode for imaging equipment. 1 Numerical value calculated using the measurement method of the international ENERGY STAR program.
	Resource efficiency	Evaluates the volume of resources that are used in the manufacturing of a product and how packaging is reduced, including the weight of the mainframe and the use of recycled materials.
	Pollution prevention	Evaluates how the use of chemical substances that have an environmental impact are taken into consideration in product design, in accordance with the European RoHS Directive (Directive on the Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment) etc.
(2) User-friendliness	Comfort	Evaluates whether the impact of a product on its surroundings varies from continued use e.g. noise and emissions (dust, TVOC?UFP etc.).
	Usability	Evaluates whether a product possesses a function to reduce its environmental impact, and whether environmentally-friendly settings such as sleep mode can be easily accessed etc.
	CSR	Evaluates whether social responsibility was taken into consideration during design based upon the inclusion of specific accessibility features (e.g. an operation panel that is easy to see for those who suffer from amblyopia and partial color blindness, color universal design in any printed output, an audio version of user manuals etc.), and the results of any sustainability related ratings by third parties.