Re-Use Printer Cartridges
A petition was launched today to show the Australian Government how much the people care about their planet. Directed at introducing laws to prohibit the practice of OEMs from creating one-time use only of printer cartridges, the petition has already garnered great support from the general public. The practice of restricting the use of remanufacturing printer cartridges has been outlawed by the European Parliament and we in Australia have been subjected to the OEMs ‘dumping’ in Australia of the brands and cartridges they can no longer sell in Europe. We are a people who care about our earth and particularly our country and with more than 10 million cartridges a year being sent to landfill we demand this stop.
For every kg of cartridge plastic up to 2.86 litres of oil is used and 6 kgs of greenhouse gas are produced in its manufacture.
For every 1 kg of cartridge plastic produced the equivalent to 26 kw/h of electricity is used in its creation. This is enough to light a 50w fluorescent tube for 21 days or a 75 w incandescent globe for 14 days.
Compare that energy consumption: 500 cartridges would run a big 4 bedroom house with electric hot water and ducted air-conditioning for one (1) year.
It is estimated that 10 million plus printer cartridges are put into landfill in
The Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) Lexmark, HP, Canon, Epson and others are fitting chips and other monitoring devices to the cartridges, the effect of which is to disable the cartridge when it is empty thereby stopping the cartridges from being remanufactured. In this way the owner of the printer is forced to buy new cartridges rather than a cheaper remanufactured cartridge.
The issue of voiding warranty as espoused by the OEM is illegal under the Trade Practices Act and so the threat to not fix a fault in the printer when under warranty because the owner has used a remanufactured cartridge can not be enforced.
From a cost point of view, an owner of a printer is entitled to use his device in any way he/she wishes. He/she is entitled to have the cartridge remanufactured if he/she wishes.
An Example:
What is the annual cost savings of a printer that takes a cartridge that prints 5000 pages, needs a new cartridge every 23 working days and costs $350 new but only $230 remanufactured? (savings = $1,356 p.a.)
Why does a $100 printer use 2 x $86 ink cartridges each (1 black, 1 colour) every 200 pages approx.?
By being able to obtain remanufactured cartridges you will save money
You will reduce landfill
You will reduce
You will employ more Australians in the business of providing remanufacturing services.
We believe the Australian people will rally behind our call for the practice of placing ‘killer chips’ on printer cartridges by the OEMs to be outlawed.
By: David Lewis, Australasian Cartridge Remanufacturers Association Inc (ACRA)