Carbon Management

Close the Loop has been assessing its carbon impacts and assessing the benefits of material recovery through the Close the Loop process for the last 7 years.

In 2003, Close the Loop was actively involved in a project undertaken by the Centre for Design at RMIT University, Melbourne who undertook a Life Cycle Assessment of the Printer Consumables Waste Stream in Australia. This was one of the first of its type of assessments in the imaging consumables market.

In 2006, Close the Loop commissioned Enviros Consulting Ltd to develop a preliminary carbon model, this which was peer reviewed by WSP Environmental Consulting Ltd in 2007. The 2007 model identified carbon savings, expressed in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (tCO2eq). The results were expressed in a range as a number of scenarios were included in the model; the results show that the net benefit of the Close the Loop collection and material recovery service was 2.6 to 3.1 tCO2eq per tonne of imaging consumables.

In 2010, Close the Loop initiated a project to revise and update our carbon model. The revision includes additional and revised process data, the incorporation of a number of new output products developed by Close the Loop. The new model will be written in industry standard specialist software and will facilitate greater sharing of information between Close the Loop and our partners, including manufacturers. It is hoped that the revised carbon model will enable Close the Loop and manufacturers to make informed decisions about recovery solutions and to evaluate options for managing and allocating carbon savings in the future.

Our hierarchy is based on gaining maximum environmental benefit from the resources locked within the products we collect. Close the Loop has invested in developing innovative ways to recover material streams and works with a broad range of industries to develop markets for our recovered materials. For more information on our output streams click here.