Environmental protection: how to be sustainable in technology choices

The theme of
sustainability
environmental technology has now assumed a central role in the strategic planning of business activities.

Indeed, the need to prepare management and operational processes in a sustainable manner directly affects the organization of various activities, as well as the management of human and material resources, including technological equipment.

Optimizing the use of technological devices while managing to reduce their environmental impact is an integral part of sustainability-oriented corporate policies.

More and more enterprises are choosing technological sustainability

Research commissioned by Brother* ^between 2019 and 2020, based on 893 business and IT decision makers, found that 71 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises feel a duty to activate sustainable policies.

• A very similar percentage (68 percent) also believe that the success of business activities depends on sustainable management.
• This figure takes a fairly accurate snapshot of how much the issue of environmental sustainability has permeated companies’ approach to medium- and long-term planning.

Sustainability in business: what it is

The concept of “corporate sustainability” refers to the policies put in place by a company to implement virtuous and sustainable management of its operations.

Net of the specifics that characterize the individual enterprise, in relation to the relevant economic and business field, the principles of business sustainability are:

• Effective management of available resources in order to optimize their performance;
• Systematic approach to organizing the aspects and processes that contribute to increasing the sustainability of the business activity, products or services offered;
• Responsive orientation toward technological, methodological and managerial innovations;
• Adoption of a strategic business model, including evaluation of the performance and impact of business and entrepreneurial activities.

These principles combine, when applied appropriately and continuously, to consolidate a set of “best practices” that underpin a true corporate culture of technological environmental sustainability.

Adopting the practices necessary to make business activities more sustainable is a gradual process, which must be implemented through a series of steps preparatory to the development of a business model radically different from traditional ones.

Technological sustainability in the office

Among the business environments where the issue of technological environmental sustainability is most prominent is certainly theoffice, where choices compatible with cost savings, overall profitability and low environmental impact are needed.

As mentioned above, awareness of the importance held by a sustainable model is strong, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises; in contrast, the measures taken in practice to increase business sustainability-without compromising productivity and the achievement of business goals-are often still insufficient or divorced from an overall systematic approach.

Regarding, in particular, technology choices for office equipment, companies must first assess the overall lifespan of printing and labeling devices.

From this point of view, the
repair
of a simple component, in lieu of replacing the entire device, is certainly a highly sustainable choice, as well as an advantageous one (as it reduces procurement costs).

Fastbrain and Brother’s sustainable solutions

Brother, one of the leading companies in printing and labeling devices, has developed some solutions that can help companies make their operations more sustainable.

Specifically, the Japanese company has implemented a free toner recycling and remanufacturing program.

Thus, companies that purchase or lease Brother printing technologies – available in the
Fastbrain store
also for operational rental – can return spent cartridges to be remanufactured or recycled properly.

Recycling materials, as well as extending the life cycle of components (toners, in this case), is one of the foundational strategies for making one’s business sustainable in every aspect.

Finally, operating le ases also save money on business technologies by incurring a small expense “spread” over time and renewing the technologies themselves by entrusting the company (e.g., Fastbrain) with which the lease is made, with the cost of disposing of the devices.

• Contact us and learn more about cartridge remanufacturing and operational rental.
• Shop Brother labelers on offer.