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How Kodak Alaris Helps Businesses Meet Sustainability Goals

Jay Mathewson
Environment, Health & Safety Manager
Kodak Alaris

Environmental initiatives have become an important focus of business planning and operations worldwide. Companies have become more transparent regarding sustainable and socially responsible business practices. A recent study by KPMG found that 96% of the largest 250 companies in the world report on their sustainability performance using a variety of metrics.

Business leaders are looking for new ways to demonstrate an authentic commitment to supporting environmental issues through efforts such as sustainable purchasing practices, contributing to proven programs around the world, and establishing corporate guidelines that encourage the use of sustainable materials wherever possible.

Reaching Goals through Sustainable Purchasing

It’s important to choose products from companies that value corporate responsibility and that make environmentally conscious decisions. For many years, Kodak Alaris has been recognized around the world as a leader in this area. We establish beyond-compliance goals and closely monitor our EHS performance. Our achievements include an exceptional level of EPEAT® certification across our line of award-winning document scanners.

EPEAT® Certified Document Scanners

For all our products and related services, we strive to use sustainable and/or recycled materials. We establish rigorous eco-design criteria for our hardware and ensure that our document scanners are certified by the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), a worldwide rating system managed by the Global Electronics Council.

EPEAT acknowledges the environmental performance and full lifecycle of electronic products, from the time of their design and production to their ongoing energy use and end-of-life recycling. The EPEAT criteria ranks in terms of Bronze, Silver, and Gold certification. Currently, Kodak Alaris has 22 EPEAT-registered scanner models, with 100% meeting the Silver criteria and 12 scanners meeting the EPEAT Gold standard. This level of commitment and achievement with EPEAT enables Kodak Alaris to offer more Gold registered scanners than any other document scanner manufacturer in the world.

Energy Star and ISO Certifications

Our products are also certified by ENERGY STAR®, a standards organization of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that independently evaluates document scanners to help organizations acquire devices that are proven to minimize energy consumption without sacrificing features or functionality.

Our operational sites maintain ISO 9001:2015 certification for quality and ISO 14001:2015 certification for environmental impacts related to product manufacturing and repair services. At a corporate level, we maintain a unique ISO 14001:2015 certification called the Environmental Management System for Governance and Product Stewardship, which ensures that environmental requirements are incorporated into all product design specifications.

Product ratings from EPEAT and ENERGY STAR are trusted all over the world, making it easy for purchasing professionals and other decision makers to select technologies that support their organization’s goals for environmental impact. In short, by choosing Kodak Alaris, you’ll know you’re making an environmentally responsible decision for your organization and your customers.

Commitment to Local and Global Initiatives Reforestation image with trees

In addition to the environmental commitments evident in our line of products, we also help organizations reduce paper with intelligent document processing solutions and we continually look for new ways to expand our positive impact in our local communities and initiatives around the world. For example, through our partner veritree, we are supporting agroforestry initiatives in East Rwanda to create sustainable futures for entire ecosystems.

Reducing Paper and Energy Usage

On top of making purchasing decisions that validate and reinforce corporate sustainability goals, digital transformation efforts can make a big difference for companies and the broader global community. For example, by using document scanners to digitize records and modernize business workflows, companies can significantly reduce paper and energy usage. When hard copy documents are scanned, the new digital format can be easily distributed to others; it’s no longer necessary to make paper copies to guarantee access to information and the originals can be safely recycled.

Unnecessary use of paper takes a major toll on the environment—not just in the amount of lumber cut down every year, but also in the staggering amount of energy it takes to process wood for retail and later break it down after it has been discarded. Minimizing the need to print and copy paper documents reduces energy consumption and lowers the environmental impacts associated with ink and toner usage.

Every year, approximately 350 million toner and ink cartridges are discarded and sent to landfills. This is especially harmful to the environment because cartridges are made of hard plastics and fortified with heavy metals. Ink and toner also contain chemicals known to be hazardous when they seep into soil. Any effort to reduce the usage of these materials provides a measurable environmental benefit.

Responsible Hardware End-of-Life Practices

Making environmentally mindful decisions is an ongoing process that extends across full product life cycles, and it’s important that business leaders follow responsible end-of-life recycling practices for their organization’s hardware.

To help our customers and partners meet their sustainability goals, Kodak Alaris designs its products with sustainability in mind. Our document scanners are designed for easy disassembly, permitting separation of plastics and other materials into their respective recycling streams using commonly available tools. Adhesives are avoided in favor of removable fasteners and the variety of plastics we use is kept to a minimum.

We also facilitate responsible waste management for equipment, batteries, and packaging. Kodak Alaris products are fully compliant with applicable regulations for recycling and materials of concern, such as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS). (To learn more about how we handle equipment, batteries, and packaging, please visit our waste management page.)

At Kodak Alaris, we are proud to be leaders in our industry, setting a high standard for authentically sustainable products and business practices that make it easier for our customers and partners to meet their own environmental performance goals. For more information on making sustainable business decisions and how Kodak Alaris can help, contact us today.