EcoLeaf Environmental Label Product Category Rules (PCR)
PCR No.

PCR Title

BN-02

Large Format PrinterLarge format printerNote: These rules have been prepared for the implementation of the EcoLeaf program. Use for any other purpose in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
No.

Major key

Minor keyClass

Requirements

Definition

An output device for computers used in offices or other environments,
including a large-size (for paper sizes exceeding A3) ink-jet(hereinafter referred to as IJ) and electrophotogenic (hereinafterreferred to as EP) printer and a large-size (for paper sizes exceedingA3) multifunction device having a printing function. Large-size
printers using solvent inks are excluded.

12

Accessories include the following:
・IJ printers: Print head, ink
・EP printers: Photoreceptor, toner, carrier (integrated cartridge, if
there is an integrated cartridge)

Product
Prerequisites
forPCRdevelopment

Scope・All packaging materials (except for those used widely andrepeatedly)
・Accessories to perform the function include printer drivers
provided on floppy disk, CD-ROMs, or other media, and manualsprovided in printed form, CD-ROMs, or other forms.

3StageScope

4All life cycle stages (all stages specified in the PEIDS of this program:manufacturing, distribution, use, and disposal/recycling)1) Items classified as Class A parts (See "Section 3.4" of theimplementation guidelines) are as follows:

Product
Data
Sheet
(PDS)
(LCIinputdata)

Production
Stage
Information(Productinformation)

Productmaterialsorrawmaterial
constitution

IJ printers(1) Print head(2) Ink
Notes:(i) All ink constituents shall be treated as water, and a basic unitof "water" shall be used for them, but this dose not limit theuse of individual basic units.
(ii) For processing, processing energy data collected in-houseshall be used.
EP printers(1) Photoreceptor
Notes:(i) For processing photoreceptor drums,
・Processing energy data collected in-house shall be used
(when the data are available in-house.)
・When the data are not available in-house, see No. 14.
(ii) For processing from photoreceptor drums throughcoating, processing energy data collected in-houseshall be used.

(2) TonerNotes:(i) For processing, processing energy data collected in-houseshall be used.
(3) CarrierNotes: The same conditions as those for the above-mentioned
toner are applied.
For materials of Class A parts, trace back to the MSDS materiallevel.
2) To determine the amount of resource input, use material massat the product level, categorize materials making up 90% or moreof total product mass, and prorate the rest to adjust the percentage
to total 100.
3) The names of materials shall be listed in the product data sheet
for the following 12 items: ordinary steel, SUS, aluminum, othermetals, thermoplastic resin, thermosetting resin, rubber, glass,paper, semiconductor substrate, wood, and water. For materials
other than these 12 items, specify a basic unit name.
4) Open recycling and reuse
When open recycling and reuse processes are included, eachcompany may account for these processes by setting a scenariothat is considered appropriate, paying attention to the items
below. The rationale for the scenario is subject to verification.
(1) Processes that fall in the scope of "indirect impacts"(2) Deductions and impacts within the scope of "indirectimpacts"
5

Production
stageinformation(productionsiteinformation)

Materialsand energy
thatareinput/consumed/
disposedof1) Input and consumed items:
Electricity, fuel oil A, diesel fuel, kerosene, gasoline, LNG(town gas), LPG, city tap water, industrial water supply, andgroundwater
Note: For processing energies pertaining to Class A parts, determine
the impact, tracing back to the MSDS material level.
2) Emitted items:
Not stipulated. Each company, however, shall specify items
judged to be important.
3) Transportation impact for input materials (raw materials andenergy) shall not be accounted for.
4) Byproducts and sub-materials shall not be accounted for.
Sub-material is defined as a material that is input and disposed of at
manufacturing sites, and not shipped with products.

6

Distribution
stageinformationProducttransportation
conditions

1) The means of transportation to users and the loading ratio
should be based on a model established by each applicantcompany.

2) Total domestic transportation distance (transportation to thesite of use) shall be calculated as 100 km. Producttransportation from overseas to Japan shall be treated asoverseas land transportation and sea transportation, and total
distance shall be set by each company or based on the actual
distance measured by each company.
3) Disposal and recycling processes of packaging materials for amain body shall be entered into No. 8 "Disposal andRecycling".
71) Use conditions
IJ printers:(i) The print pattern shall be JIS SCID (bicycle) in color. Print
at the largest size available with the large format printer.
(ii) The number of printed pages shall be assumed to be 5pages/day with a use period of 3 years (8 hours/day, 20days/month, and 12 months/year.)(iii) The print mode shall be the default mode for plain paper. If
the setting for plain paper is not available, each company
selects an appropriate paper type (Print in the default mode.)(iv) When the printer is idle (for 16 hours/day), the primary-side
power supply shall be off.
The above conditions shall be specified in the commentary
section of PEIDS.

Usage
stage
information

Product
usage
conditions

EP printers:
In principle, the conditions set for IJ printers [(i) through (iv)above] shall be used. However, the following conditions shallbe added based on the actual use conditions of EP printers:(v) In addition to the pattern specified in (i), the chart
mentioned below may also be used. For printers working only
in a monochrome mode, print in monochrome.
・ISO/IEC 10561:1999 Pattern A(vi) The number of pages printed per day shall be determinedaccording to the calculation below, based on pages per minute(hereinafter abbreviated as ppm. For color printers, use the ppm
value when printing in color) using the largest standard-size
paper that the target printer can print:
Number of pages printed per day = 5 × ppm value*The fractional portion of the calculated figure shall be
rounded down to an integer.
(vii) The estimated use period of printers shall be 5 years.
2) The paper necessary in the use stage is not included in the impact
calculation.
3) Number of periodic replacement parts and consumables used
Item: Based on the plan at the design stage, or on the actualnumber.
Number: The number of items used under the above conditions(in a period of 3 years for IJ and 5 years for EP), with fractions
rounded up to an integer.
* The ratio of color printing to monochrome printing
shall be assumed to be 1:1.
Transportation: A model based on the above conditions shallbe established at each company.
4) Conditions for disposal and recycling of periodic replacement
parts and consumables are set forth in No. 8 "Discarding andRecycling".

81) Scenario setting
Follow the appendix "Discarding and Recycling Scenario forUsed Products".
1. For recovery route, each company shall set a scenario
including transportation.
・Reuse scenario
・Recycling scenario
Material-specific recycling rates (= η) shall be establishedat each company.
・ Industrial waste processing scenario if not reused orrecycled
2. For non-recovery route, follow the "General Waste
Processing Scenario" (see the appendix).
2) Deduction scenario
Follow the appendix "Discarding and Recycling Scenario for
Used Products".
3) Criteria for the possibility of recycling or reuseCriteria shall be determined individually at each company.
4) Product recovery rate (the same rule applies to the "parts
recovery rate" for consumables and replacement parts)

Disposal/recycling
stageinformation

Product
disposal/
recycling
conditions

Product recovery rate shall be the actual value at each company(η1). Alternatively, the following is also acceptable:
For IJ, η2 = 1%
For EP, η2 = 40%
5) For reuse of products
Based on its design value, each company shall set the number oftimes a product is reused (N1) after the use period (3 years for IJ
and 5 years for EP). N1 is an integer.
The above N1 is used for the impact calculation:
Parts reuse deduction amount = "reusable amount planned at thedesign stage by each company" × "product recovery rate η1 (orη2)" × "reuse deduction rate N1/(N1 + 1)"
6) For reuse of consumables and replacement parts
The number of reuses in the lifetime of an applicable item is N2,
and the number of the item used in the use period is n, withfractions rounded up to an integer.
The above N2 and n are used for the impact calculation:
Parts impact = "impact until manufacturing of one part" × "number of parts
used in the use period (n)"Parts reuse deduction amount = "reusable amount planned at thedesign stage by each company" × "parts recovery rate η1 (or η2)"× "reuse deduction rate N2/(N2+1)" × "number of parts used in
the use period (n)"7) How to account for the impact of processing products or parts
that are disposed of without being recycled nor reused
Follow the appendix "Disposal and Recycling Scenario for UsedProducts".
For accounting for the impact of transportation processes, thedistance shall be estimated to be 60 km, the transportation meansa 4-ton truck, and the loading ratio 62%.
References:

Loading ratio: Appended table 3 in the Notification No. 66 from
the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
Transportation distance: "Study Report for LCA Investigation
Pertaining to Plastic Waste Management/Discarding", March
2001 from the Plastic Waste Management Institute8) Open recycling and reuse
When open recycling and reuse processes are included, eachcompany may account for these processes by setting a scenariothat is considered appropriate, paying attention to the items
below. The rationale for the scenario is subject to verification.
(1) Processes that fall in the scope of "indirect impacts"(2) Deductions and impacts within the scope of "indirect impacts"
9

Product
environmental
Information
Data
Sheet
(PEIDS)

Inventory
analysis

LCI
calculation
formulaWhen actual measured data at the production site are notavailable, the assembly impact shall be calculated as parts
assembly impact of Class C parts ("Class C parts mass" × basic
unit "parts assembly"), and the assembly impact at the production
site shall be calculated as: "product mass" × basic unit "parts
assembly".
When open recycling and reuse processes are included, indirect anddirect impacts shall be calculated separately, and the indirect
impact shall be expressed as "recycling effects". In the PEIDS, thesum of indirect impacts shall be specified in the "recyclingeffects" field.

10Impact
assessment

Category
additions

The items "ozone layer destruction", "eutrophication", and"photochemical oxidants" are deleted from the PEIDS.

Dataprocessing

Allocation

Not unified; each company determines appropriately.

Collection
range

If data cannot be obtained, data that contain conditions (including basicunits) at the design or planning stage may be used as a substitute.

Cut-offrules

A cut-off applied to the assembly impact or others shall be noted
and the reasons for that shall be clarified.

11

12

Breakdown
Data Sheet(relevant toproductdata sheet)

13

Datacollection

14

Breakdown
Data Sheet(relevant toPEIDS)

Database

Basic unit
databaseselection

1. Use a basic unit of "parts assembly" for assembling purchased
parts by each company.
2. Use a basic unit of "cold-rolled steel plate" for iron oxide (ifused), but this does not limit the use of individual basic units.
3. Use a basic unit category name of "utility (water)" for ink
constituents.
4. Use a basic unit of "Al plate" for photoreceptors materials of EPprinters.
5. Use a basic unit of "nonferrous press" for processing
photoreceptor drums of EP printers.
See the "basic unit list" for the above-mentioned basic unit names.

1516

Basic unit
database
additionsCharacteri
zationfactoradditions

None

None17

IJ printers:
1. Type (IJ)
2. Maximum paper size
Product specifications

18

Data publication
contents

1. Items to be listed"Warming impact, acidification impact, and energy consumption
amount", stipulated as mandatory items (in the guideline), shall be
specified, while the 7 optional items (in the guideline) are notmandatory.
2. Target life cycle stages
Not mandatory.
3. Use conditions setting
Period of use (__ years), amount of use (__0,000 pages), and thetype of paper prerequisite for evaluation (plain paper, matte paper,coated paper, and photo paper, etc.) shall be specified.
4. Ways of presentation
Any of text, table or graph may be selected.
When open recycling and reuse processes are included, "recyclingeffects" shall not be integrated with the actual impact, but presented
independently with a dotted line for each stage.

Optional items

The following items may be entered:
1. Type I and/or Type III environmental label
2. ISO 14001 certification acquisition
3. Certifications, approvals or awards from national or industrialorganizations
4. Hazardous substances

Product
Environmental
Information

19
Other
EnvironmentallyRelevant
Information

EP printers:
1. Type (EP)
2. Maximum paper size
3. Monochrome or color
4. Printing speed (monochrome and color)<Separate Sheet>
Rev. 01 2004.3.1

End-Of-Life Product Disposal/Recycling Scenario
General waste disposal fraction scenario

Non-recovery routeEnd-of-life
product(General waste handling)

Reuse scenario

Recovery route

Reuse parts
amounts(Industrial waste handlingor reuse/recycling)

Repairs, tests,cleaning, etc.

Amount ofreuse parts

Amounts thatcan be reusedas parts(deduction)

Recycling scenario

Determination

Recyclable
amountFragmentation,sorting,regeneration, etc.

Amounts ofrecycling materials

Amounts thatcan be reusedas materials(deduction)

Industrial waste disposal scenario(Handling as industrial waste)

General Waste Disposal Fraction Scenario

Determination

Fragmentation

Product"Non-recovery route": route taken if entry into the calculations ismade in terms of disposal as general waste(municipalities' responsibility)(Handling ascombustible)(Handling asnon-combustible)

General waste
incineration

General waste
landfilling"Recovery route":

route taken if entry into the calculations ismade in terms of disposal as industrial waste(businesses' responsibility) or reuse/recyclingInformation on the development/approval of this PCR
EcoLeaf deliberation commission

Representative: Yoji Uchiyama

PCR development/revision date

March 19, 2014

Affiliation: University of Tsukuba Graduate School
Validity period

March 19, 2014 to March18, 2017

Note: For the current PCR, the validity period is full three years from the development/renewal or revision with the purpose of continuation.

History of revisions, etc. for this PCR
Implementation Date
Version No., etc.

Action taken

May 26, 2005

01

DevelopedFebruary 1, 2011
March 19, 2014

02

Updated
RevisedOn the Changes in the Order of PCR Items
Due to the Revision of the Product Category Rules (PCR) Development Rules (R-06)
Due to the May 1st, 2008 rule revision, the order of product category rules (PCR) items were changed.
As this PCR was developed prior to the rule revision, the order follows the previous item numbers.
Indicated below is the correspondence between PCR items before and after the rule revision.
<PCR items prior to rule revision><PCR items after rule revision>

PCR items prior to rule revision

No．

PCR items after rule revision

No．

Related forms[LCA examination range setting and label publication contents]
1

Product definitions

2

Product constitutive elements and evaluation units

3

Product life cycle stage

→
→
→

1

Product definitions－

2

Product constitutive elements and evaluation units－

3

Product life cycle stage－

4

Product specifications

PEAD

5

LCA data publication contents

PEAD

6

New-to-old product comparison

PEAD

7

Other eco-design relevant information

PEAD[System area and data collection conditions setting]4

Raw materials/parts constitution

5

Production stage data collection conditions→→

6

Distribution stage data collection conditions→

7

Usage stage data collection conditions

8Disposal/recycling stage data collection conditions

98Product raw materials/parts constitution

9Article production stage modelling/data division, etc.

10Distribution stage modelling/data division, etc.

11

Usage stage modelling/data division, etc.

Breakdown DS (usage) PDS

12

Disposal/recycling stage modelling/data division, etc.

Breakdown DS(disposal/recycling) PDSLCI FGD/BGD data collection/processing

13

Cut-off rules

10

LCIA impact category

14

Collection data quality requirements

15

Collection data allocation

11Allocation

12

Data collection range[Inventory calculations]13

Cut-off rules

16

Approach to LCI calculation

17

LCI common base unit usage conditions

14

LCI BGD approximation substitution

15

LCI BGD PCR base unit→→

Breakdown DS (product) PDS
Breakdown DS (productionsite) PDS
Breakdown DS (distribution)
PDS

Breakdown DS (each stage),
PDS
Breakdown DS (each stage),
PDS
Breakdown DS (each stage),
PDS

Breakdown DS (each stage),
PEIDS
Breakdown DS (each stage),
PEIDS[Life cycle impact evaluation (characterization)]
16

LCIA BGD characterization factor additions

17

Product specifications

18

LCA data publication contents

19

Other environmentally relevant information→18

LCIA impact category and characterization factor
additions

Breakdown DS (each stage),PEIDS