Treehugger reports that HP are reducing the packaging for their printer cartridges. Even though the changes seem small, they definitely add up:

These changes, according to HP, will cut down on 15 million pounds of materials over the course of 2007, including 6.8 million pounds of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic.

… Overall, the company estimated that it will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 37 million pounds. Because shipping containers will be able to accommodate many more packages, truck traffic for cartridge shipments is expected to be cut down by 1.5 million miles this year. Company calculations indicated that is the equivalent impact of 3,600 cars operating over the same period.

Our correspondent at Treehugger is quick to point out the other environmental issues with home printing. But this is still a good step forward.

Excessive packaging is a real issue, and an easy win for companies and the environment, as reduced packaging often means reduced costs (as the HP example shows). The EPA in Victoria recently ran the DUMP Awards [via GreenFoot] highlighting problematic packaging. You can check out the “winners” (or should we say losers), which were announced just the other day.