Tandridge boost their environmental credentials with Kyocera

Although only 45 minutes from London by train, Tandridge District Council is proud of its rural environment, with over 90% of the district covered by Green Belt. Many of the district’s residents appreciate the benefits that a leafy location offers in contrast to their working lives in London, so it’s not surprising that Tandridge District Council is keen to do all it can to keep the local environment green.

Every week the council collects refuse and recycling materials from around 33,000 households spread over the 110 sq miles of the district. Twelve recycling and refuse vehicles travel 7,500 kilometres per week collecting 470 tonnes of rubbish and 130 tonnes of recycling. Recycling is not the only area where the Council is keen to make an impact, its IT systems are coming under scrutiny as well, as ICT Manager Stuart Mitchenall explains.

“We’re increasingly aware of the impact of our activities on the environment around us. We are now generating our own energy with a newly installed photovoltaic solar cell array than can generate up to 10% of the electricity needed by the council. We’re looking at all the different areas where we can improve efficiency and reduce resource consumption, and as part of that we decided to investigate our printing and copying facilities.”

Tandridge Council reviewed its main copying facilities three and a half years ago, and office solutions specialists Altodigital suggested that they install a range of Kyocera multifunction copiers. “We were impressed by the claims for reliability and low consumables costs made by Altodigital on behalf of the Kyocera machines, and it’s true that since installation, we’ve noticed a significant reduction in our consumables bills,” says Stuart. The reliability of the Kyocera machines has also been striking: “It’s a job to remember the last time we had a problem with a Kyocera copier,” says Stuart. “Quality has remained high ever since they were installed, and we’ve had none of the grief that we associated with their predecessors.”

Kyocera’s ECOSYS printers are designed to minimise both waste and cost, thanks to their use of a long life drum, which was developed by the company in 1992 to offer an environmentally gentle alternative to traditional cartridge-based print technology. The ECOSYS print drum is robust and hardwearing, and lasts up to 30 times longer than the standard OPC drum used by competitors.

This means that all users need to regularly change is toner, which comes in a simple cassette. Conventional print cartridges contain up to 60 individual parts made from many different materials, making it a difficult item to recycle. Kyocera toner cassettes contain only five components, made from just two types of plastic, thus minimising the raw materials and production resources required to produce them and the recycling impact at end of life.

As well as the environmental benefits, Stuart recognises the role that user experience plays in a successful technology rollout: “We have to educate our users in the productivity and cost benefits that using printers in an efficient manner can generate, and for that to be successful, the products need to be intuitive and reliable so that there are no psychological barriers to adopting new hardware. The reliability we’ve already experienced from Kyocera MFPs gives us confidence that rolling out the printer network will be a success.”

Kyocera’s partner Altodigital has been providing essential maintenance and support for the MFDs that have been installed in the council. Peter Butcher, Account Manager at Altodigital said: “The investment that Tandridge District Council has made will deliver increasing returns as time passes and will create huge savings on output and consumables costs associated with traditional stand alone print and fax devices. We are delighted to have this partnership with Kyocera and had no doubt in recommending them as the best and most sustainable option going forward.”