Printing is not a green activity, nor could it really ever be dressed up as such (Firms should tone down green rhetoric, 5 November).

Like so many business activities, the manufacture and use of printers has an inherently negative impact on the environment, which is something that printer manufacturers have long known.

I also agree that trumpeting compliance with standards that are actually becoming the industry norm does little to inform the consumer of the greenness of a company. Some printer companies proudly advertise the fact that they will collect your used printer when you buy one of theirs, conveniently forgetting that this is a requirement under the WEEE directive in any case. Plus, any printer manufacturer worth its salt will have a cartridge return and recycling programme in place – if only from the selfish point of view of keeping used cartridges out of the hands of remanufacturers.

At Kyocera we have never claimed that our printers are environmentally friendly. We do, however, believe that they have less environmental impact than the conventional technology alternative.

Helen Hopper, Kyocera