article Reaching your green fatigue threshold? HP's committed to the environment. in HP’s Enterprise Printing Blog

Reaching your green fatigue threshold? HP's committed to the environment.

murradav — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:37:00 GMT

Alison Graves
Worldwide PR Manager for HP’s Enterprise Imaging and Printing Business

Are you beating yourself up for infractions like pitching a soda can in the trash or forgetting to bring your own travel coffee mug into Starbucks? If you answered yes, then you might be suffering from “Green Guilt.” Are you skeptical of every green marketing claim and more interested in the U.S. presidential election and Jamie Lynn Spears’ baby? Then you probably have “Green Fatigue.” The New York Times reports the green fatigue threshold has been reached. PR and marketing professionals are trying to figure out what to do about it as experts worry the trend will soon die off. “After 18 months, levels of concern on any issue tend to drop off,” said Jonathan Banks, business insight director in Britain at Nielson, in an interview with the Times.

According to PR industry e-zine, Bulldog Reporter, “The problem boils down to misleading and exaggerated environmental claims and ties by advertisers that have consumers caught on an overgrown lawn of green skepticism.” For example, the Times points out that The Advertising Standards Authority received 561 complaints from consumers about green claims in 410 ads in 2007, up from 117 complaints about 83 ads the year before.

Where does that leave HP? Our commitment to environmental stewardship isn’t just a passing phase – in fact, it’s built into our DNA as a company, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard were pioneers in recognizing that beyond making a profit, a company has a responsibility to enrich the businesses, lives and communities of its customers, partners, employees and stakeholders. Sure, like almost everyone else, we amped up our green marketing in the last year, but our claims are very real. They not only relate to our own commitment to the environment, but also our work to support our enterprise customers green goals. And speaking of our own commitment: Last week HP’s Corvallis site was recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency as exemplary steward, for making efforts, both internally and externally, to go above and beyond legal requirements for protecting the environment. The Corvallis site has reduced the total amount of electricity use by 6 percent, accounting for 9.7 million megawatt-hours, and invests in 4.2 million megawatt-hours of renewable energy per year. Congratulations HP Corvallis!

re: Reaching your green fatigue threshold? HP's committed to the environment.

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:29:01 GMT

Alison,

As managing editor for WhatTheyThink's Going Green section, I read an enormous amount about green business practices. Yesterday I received my copy of Print magazine - a wonderful publication, by the way.

In it was a little piece on The Designers Accord, but there was a great bit describing "eco-fatigue." It mentioned the Britney Spears Factor: "Everyone loves you. Until they don't."

We may have reached the top of the hype cycle... but this issue isn't going to go away!

Gail

re: Reaching your green fatigue threshold? HP's committed to the environment.

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:16:33 GMT

With years of experience selling original and compatible toners and inkjets for HP laserjet and HP inkjet printers, I can tell you that HP is a little behind in the environmentally-friendly consumables department.

While we love HP products and printers, all consumables (printer cartridges) are NOT accompanied by a return or recycling program. Without mentioning the names of competing organizations, I can definitely say that those who offer such programs are reaping the benefits of being both socially-responsible and environmentally-oriented. Consumers praise these programs and become more loyal customers as a result.

Businesses want to recycle ALL of their empty toners and micr toners! The problem, as we know, is the cost of getting an empty toner back to HP so they can recycle and reuse it, thereby reducing waste. An empty toner can cost $3 to $15 to ship to a recycling facility. Not cheap. At Canada Ink, we get people to gather up a few cartridges before returning them to us for recycling. Sometimes we lose money on the recycling, but isn’t that expected? Another question, is it our responsibility to have an infrastructure in place to recycle products manufactured by OTHER companies?

We are currently working on a deposit-based system, where customers pay an extra X% on their toner cost- only to have it reimbursed when they return their empties. Will customers go for it? Some suggested they would; others assured us they would not. Are companies more concerned with cutting 5% of their costs or losing 5% to act socially- and environmentally-responsible?

Bottom line, if other companies have come up with a way to promote and reward laser cartridge recycling for ALL of their products, when is HP going to follow suit?

Canada Ink