Epson stops making laser printers for sustainability reasons • The Register

Japanese electronics and printer manufacturer Epson announced this month it would cease selling and distributing laser printer hardware after 2026. The reason? Sustainability issues.

According to the company, inkjets can make “meaningful advancements” in the environmental sector with a greater potential than laser printers.

The company had already stopped sales of laser printers in several markets but they continued in Asia, Europe and other regions. Epson promised that it would continue to offer consumables and spare parts support, even though the new hardware wouldn’t be available everywhere.

“As an organization, we are totally committed to sustainable innovation. Inkjets simply consume less energy and have fewer consumable parts,” Koichi Kubota, Epson’s sales and marketing manager said in a canned statement. Epson’s Heat Free Inkjet Technology uses mechanical energy to fire ink onto pages, while laser printers heat and fuse toner.

Kubota stated that “our printing business will focus now on inkjet.” According to an Epson blog post, its inkjets use 85 percent less energy than comparable-speed laser printers.

They also emit up to 85 percent less carbon dioxide than inkjets.

The inkjets also have up to 59 percent fewer replaceable components – just the ink and waste ink box, compared to lasers that must have toner, drum, developer and fusers replaced regularly.

In a non-colossal coincidence, Epson has also introduced business inkjet and multi-function printers that can crank out 40 to 60 pages per minute – addressing one of inkjets’ key weaknesses.

Epson may be citing sustainability as the main reason it will discontinue production, but Epson has been criticised for its non-green behavior. bricking The company still makes functional products. This feature is integrated into Epson’s L360 and L130 models.

You can “unbrick” these devices by visiting an authorized repair person, or replacing the entire machine, as mentioned in Fight to Repair newsletter July.

Windows users have a third option. A maintenance reset utility allows for temporary extended print as a one-off. Afterwards, please refer to the next section.

Epson offers its recycling program to those who choose to replace.

For its reasons for bricking the machines, the company points to print quality and performance. The company mentions ink leakage as a problem that can damage user property, or safety concerns such as excessive ink coming into contact with an electrical component. This could lead to a potential danger. ®