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Tonernews.com Pushed for US Investment in Australia’s Cartridge 4 Planet Ark.
Following news in May 2025, Tonernews.com has been advising US investors to consider acquiring the struggling Cartridge 4 Planet Ark business, primarily to capitalize on its extensive collection of OEM empty toners and inks.Cartridge 4 Planet Ark’s Secret: Why They Crush Toners Instead of Recycling Them?
Cartridge 4 Planet Ark is one of the largest collectors of empty cartridges worldwide, handling products from major OEM brands like HP, Canon, Brother, Epson, and others. While it’s clear that the company is gathering these empties, there remains a mystery surrounding what they actually do with them. The official expectation is that these cartridges should be returned to the OEMs for remanufacturing. However, various reports suggest that rather than refurbishing these cartridges, Cartridge 4 Planet Ark crushes them to create pavement material used in road construction across Australia.
The Shocking Truth About Toner Recycling Practices
It’s disheartening that these valuable empties are being destroyed instead of being remanufactured. While it’s undoubtedly more eco-friendly to remanufacture toners and inks, HP, for example, is known to crush its collected empties down to scrap plastic rather than reuse them. What happens to the empties collected by Cartridge 4 Planet Ark for other OEMs remains unclear, but HP’s practice is widely criticized within the industry.How Australia’s Cartridge 4 Planet Ark Got Caught in the Middle
This strategy of keeping empties out of the remanufacturing loop is a common tactic used by many OEMs around the world—essentially preventing others from benefiting from the collection and reuse process. The reality is, most consumers discard their used cartridges, but some make the effort to recycle them locally.When the team at Cartridge 4 Planet Ark was approached by our investors via LinkedIn, they seemed to back off from selling their business. Today, the company issued a statement about receiving new funding (see below). Moving forward, we hope that the company will be run more effectively, with a greater focus on sustainability. Ideally, it will ensure that all OEMs recycle 100% of the collected empties, with any remaining material being sold to reputable toner recyclers for remanufacturing.
Is Cartridge 4 Planet Ark Really Helping the Planet?
An even better solution would be for Cartridge 4 Planet Ark to sell the collected empties for remanufacturing first to generate additional funds, before returning the rest to the OEMs. The ultimate goal is to ensure transparency and accountability in how these valuable materials are handled, especially since the fate of these empties remains largely unknown within the industry.
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