Epson’s commitment to People, Planet and Process

Henning Ohlsson is the CSR Director at Epson Europe and the Managing Director for Epson Deutschland GmbH.

Henning proudly introduced himself to me at this year’s Viscom in Dusseldorf by sharing his business card on recycled paper from the Epson Paper Lab dry-process office papermaking system. PaperLab product is powered by the Epson Dry Fiber Technology, which consists of three processes that turn used paper into new paper: defibration, binding and forming.

I can sense immediately that Henning ‘walks the walk, as well as talking the talk’. Immediately this introduction declares his intention to draw attention to his views around sustainability.

Tell me more about your role at Epson as CSR Director?

I am CEO of the Epson Dach region and CSR Director for EMEA. In this role, I want to help share the vision that Epson has for a brighter more sustainable future.

The world expects companies to operate responsibly to achieve social sustainability. I am confident that Epson can contribute substantively to sustainability because the efficient, compact, and precision technologies we employ in our products reduce environmental impacts. Our business activities have always been guided by the keywords “integrity and effort,” words that exemplified the character of founder Hisao Yamazaki.

I believe that organizations have a responsibility to build a sustainable future, both socially and environmentally, at every level of the value chain. At Epson, we strive to develop printing, projection, wearable and robotics technologies that help our customers meet their own sustainability targets. As CSR Director, my aim is to reinforce the environmental benefits of our product range, ensuring their regulatory compliance, as well as leading local and regional initiatives that promote our employees’, and our company’s, commitment to CSR values.

With its Vision 2050, Epson is delivering a clear commitment to environmental awareness. Visions can only be fulfilled if they are lived day by day and filled with activities. A good intention alone is not enough. I will make our ambitious goals for the CSR agenda tangible for our customers.

I am proud to lead this effort and to work for a company that takes its environmental responsibilities so seriously.

I am pleased to be part of CSR Europe, a leading European business network for Corporate Sustainability in Brussels, supporting the EU Commission’s work on the European Green Deal and its first European Climate Law to enshrine the 2050 climate-neutrality target into EU law

Prior to working for Epson, I worked as General Manager at Motorola, Sales and Marketing Director at Nokia and Marketing Manager at IBM. I am focussed on Corporate Social Responsibility, European policy, Circular Economy, Green technology, eco-innovation, Epson’s CSR & Sustainability performance.

How do you think businesses become more sustainable and will start changing their behaviour?

I think we will see ‘little steps in the right direction’, step by step. People will take steps to make a difference. I know some countries are in denial, but business and more enlightened nation need to make the move and bring others with them.

The EU Green deal is a good step, I like the vision of cradle to cradle – with increasing closed-loop production. I noticed that business in the future will not be able to sell ‘White goods’ or mobile phones that cannot be repaired – we will stop this through away society – Repair and reuse will become the norm. I am proud to be part of the CSR group in Brussels led by Frans Timmermans - Leading the Commission’s work on the European Green Deal and its first European Climate Law to enshrine the 2050 climate-neutrality target into EU law. We have a number of Print manufacturers in the group and other business leaders from big corporates. It is great to be part of the vision.

How about Epson – what are you doing in the area of sustainability?

Well, from the point of view of our technology and in particular Epson heads we have an advantage over the competitors in Inkjet as we use ‘Cold technology’. There are less energy and obviously less heat used to deposit ink droplets and this means we are at an immediate energy-efficiency advantage. Our tech data shows that our technology generates less CO2 per print, per user and per office. This has to be a good thing.

We are also printing with better inks and on different materials that enable print to be more sustainable. It, of course, depends on the output, but we want to encourage our customers to think differently.

Here is our philosophy towards recycling at Epson. We want to conserve valuable environmental resources and reduce waste we aim to collect and recycle as many products and supplies as possible.

We realise that planning for our future requires a strong commitment to the environment. That is why we collect and recycle as many products and supplies as we can, ensuring that they are disposed of properly, in a way that minimises their impact on the environment.

In line with our Environmental Vision 2050, we have established European-wide collect and recycle programmes for printer consumables. We also ensure that we are fully compliant with the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive in countries where we sell our products.
For our product recycling, we participate in customer-friendly schemes which have been set up in European countries as part of the WEEE directive.

What is your vision for the Print industry, how can we encourage businesses to change?

We need to bring together the print industry owners to start to believe in this way of thinking and change the way they operate their businesses. We can lead others. Change our thinking. We all have a role to play in building a better future. For Epson, being a sustainable company means being mindful of every aspect of our organisation – from the smallest lightbulb to the largest factory. – there is something to be said for this vision. It’s not always about Profit, shareholders and growth – it’s also about the people that work for you, your working environment, your supply chain, your own ethical position, your purpose?

We all have to try to make a difference, with an electric car and I have personally looked at my air travel. We know this is one of the worst polluters and so I have tried to change my behaviour and increasingly offset any flights I take. I also regularly measure my own carbon footprint to manage what I am doing.

Thanks, Henning

To find out more about Epson’s CSR goals take a look here