Posted June 2018

Reduce, reuse, repave — at least, that’s what printer companies are doing with Australian roads. The City of Sydney is using a new kind of asphalt made from printer toner on its roads and streets.

An Australian company, Downer, is fixing roads with used printer toner. They create TonerPave from a mix of asphalt toner powder, wax, minerals, pigments, iron oxide, silica, and sometimes waste acrylic paint.

The City of Sydney initially tested the product in 2010 and has since recycled more than 20,000 tons of cartridges. By using TonerPave the city estimates it has reduced emissions by 40 percent compared to if they were using conventional asphalt.

Downer is in partnership with Close the Loop. Close the Loop ‘is dedicated to making the Circular Economy a reality by providing best-in-class sustainability solutions to companies that want to enhance their Corporate Social Responsibility through effective and efficient recovery and re-use of valuable resources from their products.’ Close the Loop has a dedicated commitment to zero waste to landfill. The organizational developed the key ingredient in TonerPave called MTP (Modified Toner Polymer).

Printing giants Toshiba, Ricoh, Lexmark and HP are also part of the initiative to recycle toner. In 2017 Toshiba hit a record for recycled toner products, recycling more than 280 metric tons of used toner. Cartridges can also be used to make park benches, and toner supplies can be repurposed as pens and rulers. HP toner cartridges are made out of recycled water bottles and hangers. Printer parts can also be used for eLumber, some of which is donated to Habitat to Humanity to make planter boxes.

Sustainability is woven into every aspect of TGI’s business. We are proud to do business with companies that show excellence in sustainable operations through energy conservation, pollution prevention, resource conservation and recycling. We’ve worked hard over the last decade to become as environmentally efficient as possible internally, and we’ve leveraged that expertise to help reduce our client’s carbon footprint as well. We provide a wide array of environmental services, from equipment and toner recycling programs to software that reports on environmental impact based on usage.

To receive your free Environmental Impact Assessment, fill out our online form or contact a sales representative at 1-866-468-4462.

Via Interesting Engineering
Via CNBC