Epson Philippines Corporation has announced its initiatives towards fulfilling the goal of reducing 90% CO2 emissions in its operations, as the company sets out to motivate its partners and consumers to also make a choice in protecting the environment.

The launch activity, done in cooperation with SM Supermalls, commenced with a photo exhibit featuring the Epson PRO, a group of distinguished photographers and graphic designers who expressed their concern for the environment through their art work. The photo exhibit entitled “The Choice to Change: Green Inspiring Blue”, showcases the Epson PRO vision of climate change to inspire everyone to act now. The photo exhibit will be showcased at SM Mall of Asia, SM North Edsa, SM Megamall, SM Cebu and SM Davao.

As a sales office, Epson Philippines has also launched the Epson Toner & Ink Cartridge Collection and Recycling Campaign, an expansion of internal efforts that the company has already undertaken in the past 3 years. The campaign sets to motivate Epson partners and consumers towards proper disposal of Epson ink cartridges to benefit the eco-system.

The launch of the Epson Toner & Ink Cartridge Collection and Recycling program will start off with the generous support of SM Malls. Recycling bins for Epson toner and ink cartridges will be situated in SM Cyberzones of select SM malls, so the end-users can conveniently drop off their used cartridges for proper disposal. A total of ten (10) drop-off locations will be announced this year.

“Every year, millions of tons of printer ink and toner cartridges end up in landfills even though they can be recycled or disposed properly. Both reusing and recycling keeps cartridges out of landfills that can reduce overloading of more plastic that takes decades to break down. Epson is committed to expand the collection network with at least 10 additional drop-off locations to be added every year,” explains Hideto Nakamura, Country Manager of Epson Philippines Corporation.

To ensure that the collection will be sustainable and efficient, Epson Philippines is currently finalizing talks with its partners, distributors and retailers for additional drop-off and collection points. The recycling loop will be done in cooperation with Epson Precision Philippines, Inc. or EPPI, Epson’s manufacturing office located in Lipa City, Batangas.

Globally, Epson is the world’s first manufacturer to publicly declare its commitment to eliminate ozone-deleting CFCs in 1988. Since then, the company and all its subsidiaries all over the world have continued to apply compact, energy-saving, high-precision technologies to reduce environmental impacts and improve eco-performance in every stage of the product lifecycle—from design and manufacture through to transport, use and recycling.

This commitment to the environment was summarized in June 2008, when Epson officially announced its Environmental Vision 2050, which encourages everyone to share responsibility for reducing environmental impacts. The primary action that Epson has undertaken globally under its environmental policy is to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% across the lifecycle of all products and services by the year 2050. Also, as a member of the ecosystem, Epson has vowed to continue to work towards restoring and protecting biodiversity together with local communities.