Modern office equipment such as printers contain many harmful substances, such as printing plates, liquid crystals and other components containing harmful metals such as mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium. Contact and inhalation of these harmful substances can cause lung injury and tumor. When PVC is contained in the plastic used for manufacturing printers, dioxin, a strong carcinogen, will be produced. When the content of harmful substances in the ink of the inkjet printer is high, it is also harmful for the user to inhale the ink atomized gas generated during printing and contact with the printed manuscript. The relevant agencies of the State Environmental Protection Administration set an upper limit for ozone, dust, styrene concentration and working noise generated in the use of modern office equipment with reference to the technical requirements for certification of environmental labeling products formulated by relevant standards in Germany and Northern Europe, made a detailed description of equipment packaging, plastics, ink cartridges, batteries, etc., and put forward specific standards for environmental design, disassembly, recycling and information disclosure of equipment, making it clear that components containing harmful substances must be marked.
The Printing and Image Application Branch of China Computer Users Association, which participated in the formulation of the standard, said that although the technical requirements of the certification are not mandatory environmental protection standards, it will play a strong guiding role in the production of these products manufacturers and the purchase of users, and help eliminate the harm of modern office equipment such as printers to environmental protection from the source of production.