Ricoh Australia appoints Close the Loop as recycling partner

Workplace technology provider Ricoh Australia has appointed print consumable recycler Close The Loop as its consumables recycling partner in Australia.

Ricoh said the appointment will further enhance its sustainability practices while providing customers with a more effective end-to-recycling customer experience.

ASX-listed Close the Loop designs and manages ink and toner take-back, recovery and reuse programs aimed at minimising waste and working towards a circular economy.

The company also trains customers on how to place orders and provides an online customer portal with reporting feature functionality.

Customers can download their own certificates of destruction via the portal and these can be scheduled to be automatically sent to customers at agreed intervals.

Close the Loop also provides customers with educational materials and online resources on sustainable recycling practices. 

“Ricoh is committed to its responsibility towards a proactive reduction of impacts on the environment and strives to achieve a zero-carbon society," said Yasu Takahashi, managing director at Ricoh Australia.

"Globally, we work towards a sustainable society through a three Ps balance—prosperity (economic), people (society) and planet (environment). In partnering with Close the Loop for an enhanced toner recycling program, Ricoh is excited that both organisations share a belief in a circular economy."

"Together, we will be offering our customers not only a strengthened, more customer centric toner recycling program but one that will benefit their sustainability goals.”

Ricoh said its customers will benefit from Close The Loop’s focus on providing a single point of account management contact and the ability to access and manage their own collections and order consumables.  

In March 2023, Melbourne-headquartered Close the Loop expanded into the US market through the acquisition of refurbished electronics business ISP Tek Services in Texas.

The company recently upgraded its Melbourne facility to increase capacity for transforming post-consumer soft plastics and toner waste powder into high-value recycled products such as TonerPlas, an asphalt-improvement agent that creates more sustainable roads. 

New machinery in the facility also enables Close The Loop to use packaging waste for its recycled plastic injection-moulding resin rFlex, allowing materials to go back into tertiary packaging items such as Ricoh toner bottles as well as pallets, crates and wheelie bins. 

Earlier this year, Ricoh was recognised as one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations, an annual ranking of the world’s most sustainable corporations published by Canada-based Corporate Knights.

This company made the ranking for 10 consecutive years from 2005 to 2014 and in 2023.

Last year, Ricoh was selected for inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the fourth consecutive year.