1.5 Million Empty Cartridges Sold in German Go into Trash

According to the study by Printerumfrage, document management firm Life and Brother, German consumers purchased 17.5 million toner cartridges in 2013, up to a third of all of those sold in Europe. However, 50 percent of those surveyed said they threw away the empty cartridges.

PBS-Business noted companies in the regions can be more environmentally friendly with more cartridge recycling, which is backed by Brother’s internal data. A Brother factory in Slovakia which collects and recycles empty toner cartridges has 700,000 of three million toner cartridges returned to Slovakia which it sells in Germany, Austria and Switzerland each year.

Another 700,000 of these cartridges go to remanufacturers and refillers. So PBS-Business predicts the remaining 1.5 million empty cartridges are thrown away though many manufacturers offer return program with which people can return empty cartridges for free, with some third-party companies even paying for empties.

PBS-Business opines that this is a waste of recyclable raw materials and energy.