Stinky Ink News

In a new report just issued by InfoTrends ‘2007 Supplies Recycling: U.S. and Europe’ some very interesting conclusions have been drawn.

Tremendous amounts of printer cartridges are used every day right across the world, and OEM’s and 3rd party remanufacturers are trying to obtain those empty cartridges and divert the empty OEM cartridges from ending up in landfills. OEMs wish to recycle the materials to fulfil their environmental responsibilities, while the 3rd party remanufacturers need the cartridges to maintain their business. 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 into landfill.

The report raises several interesting issues for anybody interested in reducing, recycling and reusing:

• 1. The OEM’s own program to collect empties generally results in them being broken down into their constituent parts and then the base materials recycled
• 2. 3rd party remanufacturers will almost always re-use the cartridges that they collect following inspection and cleaning.

On the face of it the more environmentally friendly route for the consumer to take is the second, however you should be aware by now that not everything is obvious when it comes to Green issues!. 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. Also our own experience is that generally the remanufacturers are only interested in ‘virgin’ cartridges that have only been used once. The report contends that half of Europe’s laser cartridge remanufacturing waste is recycled, and 30% of inkjet cartridge remanufacturing waste is recycled or managed in some way. In addition, only about 10% of unusable laser cartridge waste is actually recycled by remanufactures in the U.S., and almost no integrated inkjet cartridges are recycled.

A big issue is the cost of collection of cartridges. When the Royal Mail (in the UK) imposing their new tariffs based on size as well as weight in August 2006, the cost of bringing back empty toner cartridges is actually several pounds more than the value of the cartridge in the recycling chain which became a real issue for us at Stinkyink where we issue a ‘FREEPOST’ label for bringing goods back for recycling.

The report goes on to say ‘ OEM’s and remanufacturers employ different methods and focus on different priorities when dealing with collected cartridges. While some OEM’s do not offer collection schemes for inkjet cartridges, OEM’s 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’.

Controversially the report concludes:

• 1. 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’)
• 2. Through remanufacturing, 3rd party supplies companies are able, on average, to reduce overall demand for new cartridges by about 20%.
• 3. Remanufacturers surveyed generally were not aware of the details concerning the waste management service providers they utilised.
• 4. Transparent and public reporting of environmental performance was not available from several OEM’s or any of the remanufacturers surveyed
• 5. Excess and damaged cartridges, as well as non-virgin cartridges, may be sold several times to successively lower-quality remanufacturers before being discarded
• 6. There are very few truly local remanufacturers; most local remanufacturers now outsource their products and no longer remanufacture directly
• 7. 16% of toner cartridges and 34% of inkjet cartridge remanufacturers collect cannot be profitably remanufactured
• 8. 3rd party supplies companies collect 70% more empty OEM toner cartridges and 700% more empty OEM inkjet cartridges than the OEM’s themselves.

It’s final conclusion is that ‘overall, however the imaging supplies industry can claim to be effectively reducing the impact of cartridges on the environment’ which is a pat on the back for both the OEM’s and remanufacturers

The full report is available to purchase at InfoTrends.

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Just released and available from stock at Stinkyink.Com is a remanufactured Black toner cartridge equivalent to Brothers TN3170. The major benefit of this new cartridge is the cost saving that users are able to experience and also the knowledge that they are recycling the original cartridge.

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Now in Stock at Stinkyink Towers is the remanufactured HP Q7551X High Capacity black toner cartridge. This cartridge fits the HP Laserjet P3005 and gives a page yield of about 13,000 Pages for only £64.99 + VAT (cheaper than the original LOW yield HP cartridge). This cartrdige will save you money and help the environment as well

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How to dispose of old printers responsibly.

When we first started Stinkyink.Com back in 2002 I bought an HP Officejet V40 all in one Fax/Copier/Printer/Scanner from our local computer superstore. After a few years of sterling service it has been superseded by a super-duper colour laser HP Laserjet 2840 fax/printer/copier/scanner, leaving us with the question what to do with the old one?.

My immediate reaction was that under the latest Waste Electrical Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive somebody (probably me) was now responsible for recycling it. So my task was to find out Who, Where and How?.

It is not easy!. First stop was Google and type in WEEE Directive which takes me to the DTi website . The UK Regulations implementing the WEEE Directive were laid before Parliament on 12 December 2006 and enter into force on 2 January 2007 and have to be complied with by all relevant parties by the 1st of July 2007.

The first paragraph says ‘The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) aims to minimise the impact of electrical and electronic goods on the environment, by increasing re-use and recycling and reducing the amount of WEEE going to landfill. It seeks to achieve this by making producers responsible for financing the collection, treatment, and recovery of waste electrical equipment, and by obliging distributors to allow consumers to return their waste equipment free of charge.’ This is a pretty black and white statement of responsibility on producers and distributors to take back and recycle all Electronic Equipment at no expense to the consumer.

A bit more reading of some very long and boring legalise basically says that the UK adopted the WEEE Directive back in January 2007 and that it will be legally binding on all Distributors and Manufacturers by 1st of July 2007. This being the last week in June 2007 I thought – no problem pop onto the PCWorld website and type in WEEE and see what comes up. Nothing!. OK lets check the terms and conditions, hmm last updated May 2005 and no mention of WEEE.

The directive actually says that if you are a retail customer, then if you buy a replacement product from the store they have to take back your old item and dispose of it in accordance with the requirements of the WEEE directive (read more here ). That seems fair enough, for both the retailers and the consumers and I suspect that all of the major retailers will be compliant with the requirements of the directive when they have to be. The consumer gets rid of their old electronic equipment and the retailer gets a new sale. The hidden cost of course is going to be bourne by you and some experts predict up to 4% cost increases to cover the recycling requirements.

What about business’s I hear you ask?, not quite so easy for us as a business. I either have to pay somebody to take it away and recycle it appropriately or take it to my local council recycling site for proper disposal. It is my responsibility as a businessman is to make sure that the printer is taken to a properly disposed of according to the requirements of the Directive.

The other thing of real interest to us here at Stinkyink Towers is the recycling of printer inkjet and laser toner cartridges. These have been specifically excluded from the WEEE directive after some very heavy lobbying by the printer manufacturers.

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Stinkyink officially went green for World Environment Day today. Employees from Stinkyink.Com in Alveley,Shropshire took part in the planting of a carbon neutral tree at their head office to signify their intention to commit to a greener way of working.

Employees were encouraged to find environmentally friendly ways to get to work including walking, cycling and sharing lifts to help reduce their carbon footprint.

World Environment Day is a key event organised by the United Nations to raise awareness of the environment and encourage action.

John Sollars (Managing Director) said “You cannot afford to ignore environmental issues in business today - everyone is becoming more environmentally conscious. Customers and employees expect you to be environmentally responsible or they will buy elsewhere. This issue has a direct impact on profits and we are using World Environment Day as a launch date for our intentions to become a greener company”

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