And they let us know about it. At the same time, for economic and business reasons, we were evaluating opportunities to reclaim the cameras for recycling and re-use of parts. It quickly became clear that to do so made good business sense-and made good environmental sense, too. The physical redesign of the product was critical. Requirements included a camera that was simpler for the photofinisher to take apart, parts that were easier to inspect and to re-use, and an easier means for reloading film.
Consumers have to take their FunSaver cameras to photofinishers in order to receive prints.
So we established various marketing and promotional incentive plans to motivate photofinishers to return the used cameras to us. The result is a world-class recycling rate of more than 70 percent in the United States and approximately 60 percent worldwide. This compares favorably with the recycling rate of aluminum cans, which was 66.5 percent in the U.S. last year. For a Kodak single-use camera, the time from collection to reclamation to the store shelf can be as short as 30 days. Mechanical parts are reused an average of six times before they are recycled.