Brother launches free inkjet cartridge remanufacturing scheme across Europe

Brother has launched a pioneering scheme to remanufacture its inkjet cartridges, making it easier for businesses and consumers to reduce waste and contribute to a circular economy.

The service is now available in 30 European countries. All users need do is send the old cartridge in a provided free-post envelope.

On return, the cartridges are taken apart, cleaned, reassembled and refilled with Brother ink. Brother then considers them as the same quality as pristine cartridges.

Brother claims that “even damaged cartridges are repurposed or fully recycled with full traceability of parts to track how many times a cartridge has been remanufactured”.

This new scheme builds upon a similar one for laser toner cartridges, which Brother has been running for two decades.

“Remanufacturing cartridges saves thousands of tonnes of carbon each year,” said Craig McCubbin, Managing Director at Brother Industries UK.

“Becoming the first print OEM [original equipment manufacturer] to remanufacture inkjet cartridges shows how committed we are to pioneering this change, with our dedicated R&D team creating new ways for users to contribute to circular economies,” he added.

Brother remanufacturing history

Brother’s new inkjet cartridge remanufacturing line will join its Recycling Technology Centre in Wrexham, North Wales. It is expected to create 20 new jobs, bring the total workforce to a little over 200.

When “fully operational”, Brother expects to remanufacture over two million inkjet cartridges a year.

Brother claims that it has remanufactured more than “40 million toner cartridges globally” in the two decades since it launched the service, which also began in Wrexham.

Last year, it was accredited with the Blue Angel sustainability certification “for its TN-3512 RE toner consisting of more than 75% of reused parts (by weight)”. Together with a site in Slovakia, this means Brother is the world’s leading remanufacturer of used toners.

Brother was also recognised as a “Leader” in the IDC MarketScape for Worldwide Sustainability Programs and Services Hardcopy 2023 Vendor Assessment.

“Sustainability has become a top motivating factor for businesses considering the adoption of print-related services,” said Robert Palmer, Research VP for IDC’s Imaging, Printing and Document Solutions group, at the time of the report’s launch.

“Companies want to work with print services providers that share their values when it comes to mitigating environmental impact. At the same time, businesses are looking to deploy technologies and services to help advance their own sustainability goals and objectives.”

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