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 are more capable than laser printers of making “meaningful advances” in the environment.

The company had already stopped sales of laser printers in several markets but they continued in Asia, Europe and other regions. Epson stated that even though new hardware will not be available everywhere, it would continue to provide support for consumers with consumables as well as spare parts.

“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 said, “Our printing business will now focus on inkjet.” Inkjets are claimed to consume 85 percent less electricity than other high-speed laser printers, according to a 2019 Epson blog post.

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. It is believed that the feature can be found in Epson’s L360-L130, L220 and L310 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 another option: A maintenance reset utility, which allows temporary extended printing. This is only for a single-off. For more information, refer to the following.

Epson offers its recycling program to those who choose the replacement option.

For its reasons for bricking the machines, the company points to print quality and performance. The company specifically cites ink spills that damage user property and safety issues like excessive ink touching an electrical component, which can become a danger. ®