Complete Story
07/12/2010
OSU Now Using Soy-based Toner
Contact: Jennifer Coleman
Ohio Soybean Council
614.476.3100
jcoleman@soyohio.org
NEWS RELEASE
July 12, 2010
The Ohio State University Now Using Soy-based Toner Developed by the Ohio Soybean Council and Battelle
WORTHINGTON, Ohio – Soy-based toner, originally developed by the Ohio Soybean Council (OSC) and soybean checkoff, in partnership with Battelle, is now being used in laser printers across the campus of The Ohio State University (OSU). OSU’s new Soy Toner Alliance makes the university one of the largest, if not the largest, user of soy-based toner in the nation.
OSU President E. Gordon Gee helped celebrate the Soy Toner Alliance during a recent kick-off event at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center. He spoke to attendees about the significance of bringing the environmentally friendly soy-based toner to the university.
“It is not simply about using a new product,” said Gee. “It’s about staking our claim that this university and its leadership role in this state is making sustainability a very important part of who we are.”
The OSU Soy Toner Alliance is led by UniPrint, which maintains about half of the estimated 7,000 printers on campus. UniPrint will be using soy-based toner in any printer in its program for which cartridges are available, currently totaling about 700. Those printers print about 800,000 pages per month, and more printers will be added as cartridges become available.
The new cartridges, called AgriTone by West Point Products, uses toner produced by Mitsubishi that contains a soy-based resin manufactured by Georgia-based Advanced Image Resources, LLC. The toner is at least 35 percent bio-based.
Printers in OSU’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) were the first to use soy-based toner beginning on June 1.
“When people on campus hit the ‘print’ key to print something out, how many think that they’re using a petroleum-based product? They probably don’t,” said Bobby D. Moser, vice president and dean of CFAES. “But things are changing, at least here on campus, as we make use of soy-based toner—something that’s made from plain old soybeans. This is just one of the sustainability efforts within our college and our university.”
The benefits of soy-based toner are multiple:
- Soybean oil, a renewable resource, is a key ingredient in the new toner and replaces petroleum, which is used in traditional toner.
- Soy-based toner is easier to remove from paper during recycling than traditional toner, streamlining the recycling process.
- Use of soy-based toner provides a new market for the 26,000 Ohio soybean farmers, who grow soybeans on over 4 million acres each year.
OSC and Battelle began the research and development of the soy-based toner over a decade ago as a way to create a new market for Ohio soybean farmers.
“We are very proud to see this idea, launched by the soybean checkoff, come full circle from its development at Battelle to its implementation right across the street at The Ohio State University,” said Keith Kemp, OSC chairman and Preble County soybean farmer. “Soy-based toner showcases the strength and ability of Ohio to be a leader in both agriculture and the growing bioproducts industry.”
Since its development, the soy-based toner has received national and international recognition, including a prestigious R&D 100 award in 2003. In 2008 it received the Presidential Green Chemistry Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Soy-based toner also falls in line with the spirit of Ohio’s new BioPreferred Purchasing program, passed with strong bipartisan support in the Ohio legislature and signed by Governor Ted Strickland in February. The program calls for state agencies, departments and state-supported colleges and universities to purchase bio-based products when possible.
The introduction of the soy-based toner to a large university like OSU is a tremendous achievement for everyone who has been a part of this exciting technology.
“We have a great relationship here and it’s the three of us: Battelle, Ohio State University and Ohio farmers,” said Gee. “That, I think, is a trifecta. This is an opportunity for us to move into a relationship in which we are all going to benefit from.”
About the Ohio Soybean Council
Headquartered in Worthington, the Ohio Soybean Council is governed by a 17-member volunteer farmer board, which directs the Soybean Promotion and Research Program. The program's primary goal is to improve soybean profitability by targeting research and development projects using the investment of farmer-contributed funds. For more information: www.soyohio.org.
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