EU Moves Toward Binding Reuse Targets in Printing Sectors

EU Moves Toward Binding Reuse Targets in Printing Sectors

A growing body of evidence indicates that the European Union is moving toward stronger, binding reuse targets across multiple product categories, including waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) such as printer cartridges, as reported by ETRIA.

A new report by RREUSE, Targets for Reuse and Preparing for Reuse in the European Union, outlines how the current policy framework—especially combined recycling and reuse targets—fails to prioritise reuse as required by the EU waste hierarchy.

RREUSE’s analysis points to the persistent absence of dedicated reuse and preparing-for-reuse targets in the WEEE Directive. According to the report, extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes across Europe tend to direct funding and attention toward recycling activities because they are cheaper and more established, leaving reuse operations with limited access to recoverable goods. This issue is especially visible in the printer-cartridge market, where more than 100 million toner cartridges are collected annually but are not governed by specific reuse targets.

Several Member States and regions—including Flanders, France, the Netherlands, and Ireland—have already implemented reuse targets at national or regional levels. RREUSE notes that these policies have improved access to reusable goods, stimulated investment in reuse infrastructure, and delivered measurable reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions.

The report links structured reuse policies to lower CO₂ emissions and increased employment, particularly within social-enterprise-led operations. Such benefits also apply to remanufactured printer cartridges, which combine notable carbon savings with strong potential for local job creation.

Despite long-standing recognition from EU institutions that printer cartridges are a priority consumable with high reuse value, several structural gaps remain, including the lack of dedicated reuse targets, EPR schemes that weighting heavily toward recycling, continued influx of non-complaint imports, and incomplete data collection on cartridge reuses.The RREUSE report underscores the need for these shortcomings to be addressed in the forthcoming revision of the WEEE Directive.

As the EU advances in its review of the WEEE framework, the report is expected to contribute to discussions on how Europe can better capture the environmental, economic, and societal benefits of reuse—particularly within product streams such as printer cartridges, where the potential remains largely untapped.

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