Release Issued by Photo Imaging Council:
A Clearer Picture of the Full Lifecycle Story
Following recent articles in the media regarding single use cameras, in particular in response to the report, ‘A Zero Waste UK’ from the Institute for Public Policy Research and Green Alliance, the Photo Imaging Council would like to explain that quite the contrary applies; this product is a true recycling success story…
For many years – ever since the introduction of single use cameras in 1986, Kodak Limited and FUJIFILM UK Ltd, in partnership with a number of other PIC members have worked together to run an industry recycling scheme that successfully keeps single use cameras out of the UK and Ireland’s waste stream.
- So what really happens to your single use camera once you’ve taken the last shot?
Of course no-one throws their precious pictures into the household waste stream! Every week thousands of single use cameras are taken to photofinishers to have the film inside developed and the pictures printed… That will be the last time you see your single use camera, but you may be surprised to learn that it is by no means the end of its life…
Single use cameras are designed to be easily recycled; this means that the film is easily removed by the photofinisher without destroying the camera body or components. All UK and Irish photofinishers, including main laboratories and minilabs across both countries, are able, indeed encouraged by the original manufacturers to use the scheme. The empty cameras are stored at the photofinisher for collection by their waste contractor, who, for convenience and environmental efficiency, will pick them up at the same time as their photo-effluent waste.
The cameras are sorted and then returned to their respective manufacturers for recycling in the product’s “closed-loop” production process with up to 90% of the camera components recycled.
Lenses, flash units and shutter mechanisms are quality tested and can be directly re-used in new single use cameras. Plastic from the camera bodies is remoulded and used in other products.
Said PIC’s Chairman, Gerry Dingley “This keeps the camera out of the domestic and business waste streams and addresses ‘design for recycling’ or “ecodesign” in a popular and familiar product”. The industry’s single use camera recycling scheme has won several design awards - Gerry continued “the scheme is in line with government goals to increase the amount of recycling generally – and meets sustainable development aspirations. It will also meet the requirements of the EC Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) when it comes into force in the UK in the near future”.
The Photo Imaging Council (PIC) is very proud of the effectiveness of the Single Use Camera Recycling Scheme which forms the industry’s logistical infrastructure required in order to truly incorporate recyclability into product design. PIC, therefore completely rejects the idea that single use cameras be used as an example of “cheap, disposable and hard-to-recycle goods,” and insist that they should not be combined with other products where such provision for recycling does not exist. The example given in the IPPR press release of the Belgium single use camera recycling scheme is a case in point – the success of their scheme where, “80% of all disposable cameras are now recycled or reused” has won this product type an exemption from the tax not because the tax caused them to be recycled but because they were already being recycled and hence warranted exemption. PIC believes that this situation is indeed mirrored in the UK and is a perfect example of why single use cameras should also be exempt from any proposed UK recycling tax.
Adrian Clarke FUJIFILM UK Ltd said, “Over the years we have provided hundreds of students studying Design and Technology with information packs about the single use camera recycling scheme and the product’s ‘Design for Environment’ features. It has been very disappointing therefore that such a high profile research body as the IPPR should have failed to check its facts and has made single use cameras an easy target for its report. In reality the photofinishing industry has gone to great lengths to ensure its products’ environmental impacts are minimised.”
Dr Greg Batts (Kodak Limited) added his disappointment of the poor research behind this article. He said…. “A quick check of the internet sites of Kodak or Fuji would have been sufficient to realise that their research was flawed. Furthermore, I recommend that the IPPR researches the granting of the World Environmental Centre Gold Medal to Eastman Kodak in 1999 and the quotes relating to the proof of our commitment to the world-wide sustained recycling of single use cameras that takes place around the world with our partners.
Finally, Dr Batts pointed out that Kodak Limited was successful in gaining the “Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development” in 2001 and that part of this award was linked to the success of the single use camera recycling program in the UK and Ireland.
