The company is also supplying steel scrap from used MFDs to steel manufacturers in an effort to promote resource recycling.
Canon Inc. announced that the company will begin using recycled steel material (electric furnace steel sheets) in some printing products, including office multifunction devices (MFDs), home inkjet printers, large-format inkjet printers and commercial printing presses, that will be released in 2025.
Going forward, Canon said it will gradually increase the number of products utilising recycled steel.
Electric furnace steel sheets are recycled materials produced in an electric furnace from steel scrap that has been collected from used products. Its use thereby reduces the input of new resources and increases the resource recycling rate.
Furthermore, since CO2 emissions from the production of electric furnace steel sheets are about one-fifth of those from blast furnace steel sheets, common steel materials made from iron ore, their contribution to decarbonisation is attracting attention. Steel is the second most used material by weight in Canon’s printing products, following plastic. Canon said it has studied the characteristics of electric furnace steel sheets and optimised the processing method so that they could be used in products.
The production of electric furnace steel sheets requires steel that has been thoroughly separated from other materials including plastic and copper. Currently, Canon Ecology Industry Co., Ltd., one of Canon’s group companies, finely separates steel scrap from collected used office MFDs and sells the refined steel scrap to Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Tokyo Steel), an electric furnace steelmaker.
The total amount of collected steel scrap provided to Tokyo Steel from April 2020 to March 2024 was more than 5,000 tons.
Canon said it will supply steel scrap to Tokyo Steel, and in turn use the electric furnace steel sheets produced by Tokyo Steel to develop, design, and manufacture environmentally friendly products, thereby promoting the recycling and effective use of limited resources.
