Brother says it is the first print OEM to remanufacture its inkjet cartridges.
The company has launched a new inkjet cartridge remanufacturing line at its Recycling Technology Centre in the Welsh town of Wrexham. It expects to remanufacture over two million inkjet cartridges a year once the line is fully operational. Brother’s investment in this new service is set to create 20 new jobs to add to its 185-strong workforce at the facility.
Business and home users in 30 European countries can return used ink cartridges free of charge to Brother. In fact, they have been encouraged to do so for the past year in order for the OEM to build up a stock of empties.
All consumables received are inspected, taken apart, cleaned and put together again, including any new parts required. The cartridges are then refilled with Brother original ink. Brother says there is full traceability of parts so it can track how many times a cartridge has been remanufactured.
The new service adds to Brother’s existing capability to remanufacture toner cartridges for laser printers. It has remanufactured more than 40 million toner cartridges globally since it began the service in 2004. The process was accredited with the Blue Angel sustainability certification last year for its TN-3512 RE toner that consists of more than 75% of reused parts (by weight). In addition to Wrexham, the manufacturer operates a sister site in Slovakia.
Brother currently saves approximately 5,300 tonnes of CO2 every year by remanufacturing in this way, and expects this amount to increase once its ink remanufacturing operation is at capacity.
Craig McCubbin, Managing Director at Brother Industries UK, said: “We know businesses are always searching for new ways to boost sustainability, and many are turning to their print estate. Resellers will form the cornerstone of plans to reduce emissions in print operations, connecting customers with the solutions to enable that. As an OEM, we’re arming partners with a new way to achieve that with this investment in our remanufacturing programme.”
