Aftermarket helps reduce carbon impact

Aug 30, 2007

Cartridge World helps reduce carbon emissions by 1 million pounds in 2007

Refilling and Remanufacturing Printer cartridges locally reduces global transportation requirements 

Cartridge World has revealed the findings of a study on the carbon footprint of remanufactured and refilled cartridges versus those that of OEM cartridges. The data provides a useful selling point for aftermarket companies and boosts their green credentials.

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The franchise chain revealed that its customers will help avoid 1 million pounds of carbon emissions annually by reusing its printer cartridges instead of buying new. This is the equivalent of taking almost 100 passenger cars off the road for one year and recycling 150 tons of waste instead of depositing it in a landfill.  

The study, performed by Brown & Wilmanns Environmental, LLC, estimates the transport-related carbon dioxide emissions of transporting original equipment manufacturer (OEM) cartridges from overseas production facilities to U.S. retailers versus refilling or remanufacturing those cartridges locally at a Cartridge World store.

“With the idea of carbon footprinting becoming a household term, we believe consumers and businesses want to know the impact products have on the environment to get from factory to retail,” said Cartridge World CEO, Burt Yarkin.  “Not only do we extend the life of a useful printer cartridge, we do so with more local content than the OEM manufacturers which is more environmentally friendly.”  

The study compared the carbon dioxide associated with the transport of three different ink and toner cartridges from their countries of origin to three US cities based upon product mass, distance shipped, and mode of transportation.  This was compared to the impacts associated with Cartridge World’s transport of ink and toner for similar products to the same three cities.  The study did not estimate the emissions for any manufacturing process.

The results were remarkable.  The study showed the transport of Cartridge World inks and toner can emit less than half the carbon dioxide than that of OEM cartridges.  And across the three city average, with typical refill percentages of one-color inkjet, three-color inkjet and laser cartridges, the average carbon dioxide transportation footprint of Cartridge World ink and toner operations is 40% lower than what might be expected from OEM cartridges.  Also notable is that the carbon dioxide reduction of transportation-related carbon dioxide is over 70% f

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