The remanufacturer will collect and remanufacture cartridges from Joint Base Lewis McChord.
North Kitsap Herald reported on the deal between remanufacturer Olympic Printer Resources and Joint Base Lewis McChord, which will see the remanufacturer work with recycling company LeMay Pierce County refuse to “collect empty printer, fax and copier cartridges” from the air base.
LeMay is currently contracted with the base in terms of both garbage and recycling services, and Olympic Printer Resources will work alongside the recycler to collect and remanufacture used cartridges from the site, which is a training and mobilisation centre for the US Air Force in Washington state.
Olympic Printer Resources’ President Jeff Petersen said of the partnership: “I am proud to continue a family tradition started by my grandfather, a disabled World War I Army veteran who, back in the 1920s and 1930s, picked up horse manure from the cavalry stables on Fort Lewis and sold it to farmers in the Puyallup valley as fertilizer.
“Our company has been recycling and remanufacturing cartridges since 1993 and our efforts kept 42.3 tons of cartridges out of landfills last year. We use the empty cartridges to make quality products that meet the same quality and page yield standards of the original manufacturer’s cartridge, but at a saving of 20 to 50 percent.”
The North Kitsap Herald added that the company has “been acknowledged for hiring veterans” in the past, with The Recycler reporting on this in 2012. The company was also selected as Small Business of the Year by the Washington Department of the American Legion in 2011, and its environmental credentials have seen it awarded an Earth Day Award in 2008 for environmental leadership.
The company recently celebrated sales of $1 million (€750,779), and in 2011 expanded with the acquisition of Green Tree Office Products.