HP’s new home printer is all about saving the planet

HP on Thursday announced its latest consumer-level printer that’s so devoted to saving the planet that it’s literally named after dirt. Pitched as the “most sustainable” home printer in the world, the Tango Terra aims to prove you can have convenience and affordability without indirectly supporting despotic regimes burning through lush landscapes in their pursuit of winning supply contracts from the West. Noble as that goal is, it would make for a terrible marketing slogan, which is why HP went for a more streamlined alternative: “Helping protect the planet, one printer at a time.”

Sustainable printing: a virtuous pursuit or an oxymoron?

Seeing how the very nature of printing sort of makes it a tree-killing business, the industry giants have been under a lot of pressure to become more eco-friendly in recent years. May not be the leading company in this segment but it certainly aims to start changing that with the Tango Terra, a printer made from recycled plastic and using recycled cartridges. Naturally, the catch is that both of those are “only” partially recycled, but that doesn’t diminish the engineering accomplishments that went into making this device a reality because, in layman’s terms, making a remotely viable home printer made of 100% recycled plastic is still next to impossible.

The HP Tango Terra will also be shipping in plastic-free packaging, offered alongside a subscription to HP Instant Ink, a first-party service devised to reduce the environmental footprint of the ink cartridge industry while also offering a more affordable and convenient way to refill one’s home printer. Joining the program means getting automatic cartridge replacements delivered to your doorstep, having an easy method of safely and responsibly disposing of your empty cartridges, and saving up to 50% of money you’d spend on printer refills anyway while doing so.

The HP Tango Terra is releasing in the U.S. on November 1st, priced at $159.99. The printer is also slated for a global release at a later date via HP’s vast international distribution network. Only the white color option has been confirmed so far, presumably due to the difficulties associated with painting plastics in in an environmentally friendly way.