By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net
WHILE it used to sell its old electronic products to junk shops, the Philippine office of Japanese printing and imaging firm Canon is now looking toward a more environment-friendly method for electronics disposal.
In an interview with INQUIRER.net, Canon Philippines president Ramon Arteficio said the company wants to improve its electronic waste disposal system in the Philippines as part of their parent company’s global environmental management program.
Arteficio said that while Canon Philippines does have an electronic disposal system for most of its products in China, its printers are mostly sent out to junk shop dealers in the Philippines, with some of the plastics and metal parts being sold and reused to make other items.
So far, the company does have a take-back service wherein old Canon products are traded in for newer models of the same type of device.
“We need to have a better way to dispose these materials because of environmental concerns. What we’re doing now is finding a third party to do the disposal for us,” Arteficio said.
While not giving other specifics regarding their new disposal plans, he said Canon Philippines might find a third-party disposal firm within the year.
The Canon Sustainability Report outlines the company’s entire environmental management program, from the operation side to the disposal. However, only the major manufacturing plants in the US, China, Europe and Australia are utilizing environmental standards.
August 24th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
way to go canon!
now i’m re-thinking if i should retain my camera and lenses rather than switch to your main competitor
February 29th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
This might be a bit off topic but the nice thing about buying new electronics is they have a warranty. You are buying something that has moving parts or electricity going to it so it has the potential of breaking, there is nothing you can do but replace it, that does not mean the company that made the product sucks, it means the individual item sucked!