*NEWS*REUSE , NOT REFUSE

[Anonymous]

Reuse, not refuse
Did
you know that 300 million printer cartridges come to their final
resting place in the nation’s landfills each year? Or that it takes
roughly a gallon of oil to produce the plastic in a laser printer
cartridge?New businesses are hoping to profit on these dramatic
environmental impacts and persuade customers into remanufacturing or
refilling cartridges locally. In doing so, those customers will also
save money.Fort Collins is now home to three new printer cartridge
refilling and remanufacturing stores, and their message is hard to
ignore.PrintOne, a printer cartridge remanufacturing operation founded
and based in Fort Collins, opened its first store at 1538 E. Harmony
Road a year ago. In April, PrintOne opened an Old Town location at 130
S. College Ave., and the company recently franchised a third store in
Colorado Springs.”The concept is pretty powerful from an environmental
standpoint,” said Matt Ottenberg, president of PrintOne. “We recycle
everything – not just cartridges, but paper and cardboard, too. In
addition, we can offer great savings over new cartridges, and we’re a
locally owned business.”Cartridge World, a worldwide cartridge
refilling franchise that started several years ago in Australia and now
operates more than 400 stores in the United States, licensed its first
Fort Collins franchise at 2614 S. Timberline Road in April.”There is no
downside to what we do,” said Steve Page, who co-owns the local
Cartridge World franchise with his wife, Patti. “This is a good thing
environmentally and from a cost-savings standpoint. Our customers get a
high degree of quality and a high degree of value.”There’s nothing new
about printer cartridge remanufacturing and recycling. Laser printer
cartridges have been remanufactured for more than 12 years. However, as
quality has been an issue, new products have continued to dominate the
industry.In the past, recycling often meant eco-conscious businesses
merely returned their spent cartridges to manufacturers such as
Hewlett-Packard in pre-paid shipping boxes, never sure of their
ultimate fate.Hewlett-Packard, the long-time leader in printer
cartridge sales, says it has been recycling those cartridges for 14
years through the company’s HP Planet Partners Program.In a written
statement, Tuan Tran, Hewlett-Packard’s, vice president of marketing of
imaging and printing supplies, said more than 112 million HP LaserJet
and HP inkjet print cartridges have been returned and recycled
worldwide since the program began.”No HP print cartridges returned
through the Planet Partners program are sent to landfill,” Tran said.
“Plastics and metals from recycled HP print cartridges have been used
to make a range of everyday new products.”What’s different about the
new generation of cartridge recycling, refilling and remanufacturing
businesses is that their products are 100 percent guaranteed to satisfy
consumers, they stay local, and they’re used again and again until they
no longer serve their purpose.What is profoundly new about the industry
is the unlikely return of customer service to a business that has
become as faceless as buying music online.”PrintOne provides a face to
the customer and a real place to go to discuss your printing needs,”
Ottenberg said. “We provide knowledgeable staff members who can match
your needs to what the printing market has to offer.”PrintOne’s model
involves setting up a centralized “banner store” that serves as a hub
for satellite stores within a given region. Fort Collins is the
prototype for PrintOne’s concept.One of PrintOne’s Fort Collins stores
will not only serve as the centralized remanufacturing site for
Northern Colorado; it will someday provide store management, supply
chain assistance and logistics for stores in Windsor and Loveland. The
company plans a complete build-out of the Northern Colorado market by
the end of 2007.”PrintOne has many franchise prospects,” Ottenberg
said. “We will stay in Colorado initially, but we have national and
global ambitions.”The concept for PrintOne came about a couple of years
ago in discussions among a group of local businessmen. Together, they
saw an unfilled niche in remanufactured printer consumables.”Several
things struck us,” Ottenberg said. “First, there was no established
market leader. Second, nobody was focused on the environmental side of
the business. And third, this was a big market, measured in billions.
We looked at industry models and saw an opportunity.”Ottenberg
estimates the market for printer consumables, including laser and
inkjet cartridges, at $45 billion annually, whereas the remanufactured
segment is about $6 billion.PrintOne’s remanufacture process, which
they consider proprietary, takes three days and involves inspection,
cleaning, refilling, testing and packaging of cartridges. But that
doesn’t mean customers must wait three days to get their cartridges
back.”Typically, if you bring a cartridge to PrintOne, you’ll receive
credit for the cartridge and then pull a remanufactured cartridge off
the shelf for about 30 percent less than a new cartridge,” Ottenberg
said.Within a a few days, your original cartridge might end up back on
the shelf, fully remanufactured and ready for another customer.Not only
does this divert solid waste from the landfill – it cuts down on fuel
use associated with shipping cartridges across the country for
recycling or remanufacture.Steve and Patti Page opened their Fort
Collins Cartridge World franchise in April. Cartridge World is the
world’s largest provider of cartridge refilling services, with more
than 1,100 stores in 27 countries.The Pages believe that as printers
become more affordable and ink and toner costs increase, the refillable
cartridge business is likely to grow.Cartridge World’s process involves
examining the cartridge for suitability, damage or electronic problems;
removing old ink and refilling with compatible ink; and testing the
cartridge to OEM standards or better.”We take care of it here and now,”
Page said. “We refill and remanufacture everything in house. There’s no
delay between when people want something and when they get it. People
run out of ink at the worst times. They call us, and when they get
here, we’ll likely have a cartridge waiting for them.”HP’s Tran is
confident that new competitors in the printer cartridge industry don’t
pose a threat to his company’s market dominance.”We’ve seen
after-market competitors come and go all while we maintained a healthy
business and market share,” Tran said. “We’ve found that customers who
opt for less-reliable alternatives may find themselves with cartridges
that don’t work after they get them home or with paper jams due to
clogged nozzles – problems that are often associated with refilled
cartridges and generic inks.”Trans said HP believes it is up to
customers to decide which solution is best for them, but there will
always be some segment of the population that is willing to accept
trade-offs in quality and reliability to save a little money.To Mary
Golden, a faithful PrintOne customer, the quality of remanufactured
cartridges is fine and the savings are too significant to ignore.
Golden operates the Hope Lives Breast Cancer Support Center in Fort
Collins. The nonprofit organization does most of its printing in-house
and goes through four to eight cartridges each month.”We’re a very
small nonprofit,” Golden said. “The savings is just huge for us –
easily $100 per month.”Page echoes her sentiment.”Quality printing and
saving money never go out of style,” Page said. “There really is no
risk to using us. We guarantee our products meet OEM standards. If
there is a problem, we’ll give you your money back or replace the
cartridge. Whatever it takes to make it right.”The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency says it would take about 450 years for a laser
cartridge to break down in a landfill. Laser printer cartridges account
for more than 90 percent of the throwaway cartridges deposited in
landfills.

[Author]

May 31, 2006 at 10:34 AM