Eco Green Office

The Truth Behind the Remanufactured Print Cartridge Effort

22 printer cartridges are thrown away every seconds—8 of them in the US—almost 700 million each year
The "paperless office” has resulted in the desktop printing market growing at over 20% per year – for every $1000 customers spend this year they’ll spend $1200 next year

160 countries, including all of the other industrialized nations, have signed the UN Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste – except the US
It is estimated that between 50% and 80% of computer parts, including cartridges, that are collected in the US for recycling are actually dumped in Third World countries in Africa and Asia. Therefore, we Support Reduce, Reuse & Recycle
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle is the desired model for the lifecycle of manufactured products according to the US EPA and the US Department of Energy
Most laser toner cartridges are rated a seven because they contain mixed resin plastics where only 5% to 10% of the plastic volume can be recycled

Manufactured to equal or greater performance than OEM cartridges
Full replacement of the Photo-Conductor Drum, Magnetic Roller Sleeve and Cleaning/Wiper Blade
Refilled with OEM-Equivalent quality ink or toner
Reassembled cartridge and toner hopper mating flanges have identical integrity, including leakage, as an OEM construction
Zero-Defect manufacturing process
Build quality in – don’t rely on testing defects out
Demonstrably capable processes which yield high quality products
Conduct 100% Incoming Failure Analysis
Utilize Closed Loop Corrective Action Processes
Identify the root cause of failures and effect backfill process change

A common myth is that remanufactured products are always inferior in quality to new OEM products
According to Canon, Co-Inventor of both InkJet and Laser Printers: "Remanufacturing means refurbishing used products to make them equal in quality to new products” – Canon, Inc www.canon.com/environmental/index.html
In 1997, the US EPA stated that remanufactured products are "as good as new” in its publication,WasteWise
Both businesses and consumers bought over $2.5 billion of remanufactured print cartridges in 2005
Another myth is that using a remanufactured or any cartridge other than that of the Original Equipment Manufacturer will void the printer equipment warranty
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975 specifically states that the warranty may NOT be voided because of the use of aftermarket products – known as the "anti-tying” provision
"For HP Printer products, the use of a non-HP ink cartridge or a refilled ink cartridge does not affect either the warranty to the customer or any HP Support Contract with the customer” – Hewlett Packard Company, Printer Warranty Statement, March, 2006