From a sustainability standpoint, copier companies have an incentive to make their products as durable as possible so they will be productive for a longer period of time. Xerox's copiers are now designed for disassembly and recycling. They use recovered parts to service machines. Xerox gets a steady supply of parts from returned machines and customers get a quick turn around for parts - the wait is now two weeks instead of six months. In Europe, adding remanufactured machines to their product mix allows Xerox to compete in a lower price segment which they could not afford previously.
Customers receive the same three year warrantee as for new machines.
They are developing mass transit systems in China and global positioning systems that help vehicles and shipments get from one place to another more directly. From a sustainability standpoint this means eliminating wasted resources by making products fit the real needs of customers as closely as possible. Many automobile trips, for example, can be made in lower-tech vehicles that use fewer resources. Lee Iacocca and Robert Stempel, former CEOs of Chrysler and General Motors are marketing an electric bicycle which is targeted to individuals in retirement communities and college campuses, and plan to sell one million bikes per year. Another alternative is a bicycle outfitted for errands, with wide tires, a comfortable seat, and large collapsible baskets.