Laser Cartridge Remanufacturing and the Circular Economy
The genuine printer cartridge remanufacturing industry have long worked to achieve ambitious re-use and recycling levels for office imaging products and are committed to increasing the re-use and recycling of printer, printer parts and printer cartridges in particular.
The ongoing Initiatives towards an EU Product Policy Framework contributing to the Circular Economy, the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products to the environment as well as the revision of the Industry Voluntary Agreement to improve the environmental performance of imaging equipment placed on the European Market (VA 5.2.) represent key opportunities to close the current gap between ambitions and reality in re-use of printer cartridges.
Circular Economy initiatives that mandate re-usable products as well as collection and re-use systems will lead to a reduction of waste generated and resources saved. Such initiatives are in line with the waste hierarchy outlined in Article 4 of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the CounciI (1. They are also in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12 (2 to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
“(10) Single-use plastic products for which suitable and more sustainable alternatives are readily available should no longer be placed on the Union market to limit their impact on the environment. By restricting the use of single use plastic products, innovative solutions are promoted towards more sustainable business models, multi-use alternatives and substitute materials that subscribe the objective of this directive.” (3
Our industry has been repairing/remanufacturing/refurbishing and offering to the EU market sustainable alternatives for printer cartridges since the late 1980’s.
75-80% of all printer cartridges could be re-used. But the truth is that our industry has less than 20% market share in all cartridges sold in Europe. A study commissioned by the EU commission released in January 2018 clearly states that:
“From a material and environmental perspective, assuming quality of remanufactured cartridges can be maintained, reuse appears to be desirable.” (4
Please help preventing the environment and save money doing it by printing with genuine remanufactured quality cartridges!
» Remanufacturing of office printing equipment helps the Circular Economy
1) DIRECTIVE 2008/98/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives (Official Journal of the European Union EN L 312/10).
2) The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2015.
3) See: Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment, 2018-04-27-11-52_01.pdf.
4) “Study on the implementation of product design requirements set out in Article 4 of the WEEE Directive. The case of re-usability of printer cartridges”, January 2018.