InfoTrends study finds remanufacturer cartridge recycling programs incomplete; OEM programs underutilised
Tremendous amounts of printing supplies are used every day, and OEMs and 3rd party supplies vendors are vying to obtain those empty cartridges and divert empty OEM supplies from ending up in landfills. OEMs wish to recycle the materials to fulfill their environmental responsibilities, while 3rd party supplies companies need the cartridges for remanufacturing.
Despite these efforts, many cartridges do wind up in landfills. Some cartridges meet this fate without ever having been remanufactured, while some are remanufactured once before going to a landfill.
Over the past several months, InfoTrends has spoken with leading OEMs and remanufacturers in the U.S and Western European supplies industry regarding their supplies collection and recycling programs. The results can be found in a new research report entitled, 2007 Supplies Recycling:
A significant amount of the cartridges collected by remanufacturers are disposed of due to damage or end of useful life, or because they are undesirable cartridges that have little or no value. The report contends that half of
OEMs and remanufacturers employ different methods and focus on different priorities when dealing with collected cartridges. While some OEMs do not offer collection schemes for inkjet cartridges, OEMs recycle the cartridges that they do collect. In contrast, while all cartridge remanufacturing companies surveyed expressed a desire to handle cartridges in the most environmentally sound manner, they also say it is often impractical due to cost and available recycling infrastructures. In some cases, remanufacturers’ cartridges and their components are burned or hauled away by waste management companies, but this practice varies to some extent depending on the country in question.
Additional key findings of the report include:
- 80% of remanufactured toner cartridges and 86% of remanufactured inkjet cartridges are thrown away because remanufacturers have such a strong preference for cartridges that have not previously been remanufactured (aka “virgin empties”).
- Through remanufacturing, 3rd party supplies companies are able, on average, to reduce overall demand for new cartridges by about 20%.
- Remanufacturers surveyed generally were not aware of the details concerning the waste management service providers they utilized.
- Transparent and public reporting of environmental performance was not available from several OEMs or any of the remanufacturers surveyed.
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