Page 248 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

224 C h apter Ele v e n

of millions of dollars. Xerox’s greenhouse gas reduction project, Energy
Challenge 2012, has likewise paid off environmentally and financially,
as has a Zero Injury program to reduce workplace incidents.
Equally important has been Xerox’s work to extend sustainability
beyond its own walls. It has asked its materials and components sup-
pliers to meet environment, health, and safety standards and elimi-
nate toxic materials. Likewise, it has asked its paper suppliers to meet
rigorous sustainability standards. It has worked with government
agencies and industry organizations, including U.S. EPA on energy
standards and the European Union on waste and materials initiatives.
Most important, it has innovated to bring sustainability to customer
workplaces.

Designing Total Systems
According to Patricia Calkins, vice president for Environmental Health
and Safety, Xerox’s DFE strategy was developed with a total systems
perspective, focusing on the greatest opportunities to reduce envi-
ronmental impacts along the value chain. In particular, since Xerox is
one of the largest distributors of cut sheet paper under one brand in
the world, the company has made a commitment to strive for a “sus-
tainable paper cycle,” which includes many elements:

• Designing hardware for efficient duplex capability and effec-
tive use of recycled content paper
• designing workflow tools (smart document technology) to
reduce the hard copy requirements of document dependent
business processes
• Introducing new paper technology, known as “high yield
business paper,” which requires half the wood input and gen-
erates 70% less greenhouse gas emissions (see below)
• Developing new print technologies (i.e., erasable paper) that
could enable the reuse of paper multiple times
• Driving sustainability requirements up the supply chain
through rigorous supplier requirements
• Achieving FSC, PEFC/SFI “chain of custody certification”
• Introducing FSC, PEFC, and SFI certified papers to the market-
place
• Partnering with The Nature Conservancy to drive improve-
ments in sustainable forestry practices and enable more sup-
ply of sustainably sourced paper fiber

This effort involved several key innovations developed by Xerox
scientists. For example, Xerox High Yield Business Paper™ is a me -
chanical fiber paper manufactured through a “greener” process than
standard paper used with digital printers (see Figure 11.2). The sheet