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Remanufactured Printer Cartridges a Greener Alternative to New Product

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NATIONAL REPORT—Printer cartridges may not fall at the top of your list of green purchasing priorities but if you approach cartridge purchasing wisely you can help reduce the flow of spent cartridges to the landfill and impact the amount of energy, water and materials spent on cartridge production. The key, according to industry experts, is purchasing remanufactured (a.k.a. reengineered) printer cartridges.

“In the United States there is no specific information on where printer cartridges end up,” says Mike Ducey, Vice President, Print Division of Guy Brown, a reseller of remanufactured toner and ink cartridges. “My estimate is that half of cartridges get recycled back to some place. The rest goes to the landfill.”

According to Tech-Optics Inc., a remanufacturer, distributer and seller of toner cartridges for laser jet printers, every year, approximately 400 million cartridges are thrown away. A typical cartridge takes 1,000 years to decompose. Each laser cartridge consists of 2.5 pounds of plastic, along with rubber, steel and aluminum. According to Guy Brown, for each 1,000 toner and ink cartridges recycled, the carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to the burning of 300 gallons of gasoline is saved.

Fifteen years ago, Ducey says, there were about 4,500 companies remanufacturing printer cartridges. Today there are about 50. While some may perceive remanufactured product to be inferior in quality to new product, Ducey says that is just not the case. His company’s reengineered cartridges perform at the same level as the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) brands and are manufactured in ISO 14001/9001 certified facilities.

Product Performance Guaranteed

At Tech-Optics Inc., OEM toner cartridges are refilled with toner to the original levels and old drums are replaced with new, factory-authorized drums. Like Guy Brown, Tech-Optics Inc. guarantees the products it sells.

Those purchasing remanufactured printer cartridges can help the environment and reduce costs as well. Ducey says retail costs for reengineered cartridges are 20 to 25 percent less than new product but one can reduce costs as much as about 50 percent if one is a large user of cartridges.

Ducey says Guy Brown takes back spent cartridges for recycling. The cartridges are either reengineered or ultimately broken down into their basic components and resold. The company has a zero landfill deposit policy. Guy Brown provides periodic environmental reports to customers to let them know the positive environmental impact they are having. Tech-Optics Inc. takes back toner cartridges for recycling.

The reengineered printer cartridge segment represents about 30 percent of the market in North America. Whereas about 50 percent of cartridges get recycled in North America, in Europe about 70 to 80 percent is recycled.

“The United States is very behind Europe,” Ducey says.

Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.

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