The Recycler Issue 300

years 

CELEBRATING TWENTY FIVE YEARS 

OF THE RECYCLER MAGAZINE 

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CELEBRATING 

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ELEBRATING 

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FIVE YEARS OF 

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300 


ISSUE 

CELEBRATING TWENTY FIVE YEARS OF 


Remanufacturing – 

The last twenty-five years 

I remanufactured my first cartridge in 1989 

having been introduced to remanufacturing 

by a HP sales engineer. I had 

bought the HP IIP printer in the US and 

imported it into the Middle East where I 

was working at the time. So I couldn’t wait 

to for it to empty so I could remanufacture 

and prove my business concept. As soon 

as the toner low came up, I took the 

cartridge apart, cleaned and refilled it and 

put it back together and it worked. 

There were a few teething problems like the toner particles 

going through the vacuum cleaner and clinging to the walls 

of my home office. The 40 minutes it took to remanufacture 

the cartridge were a lot less than the time it took to clean the 

room and vacuum cleaner. Early days and indeed a steep 

learning curve. 

The early years 

In 1992 when The Recycler was first published there were 

about three hundred companies in the UK and another 

eighteen hundred or so in the rest of the European Union 

(EU) that were actively remanufacturing. At the time, the EU 

consisted of twelve member states and accessing Eastern 

European countries was still a challenge. 

The remanufacturing businesses were mostly small and 

employing three or four people and remanufacturing 

mainly CX/SX/ LX cartridges, some IBM 4019’s and Kyocera 

DK3 and DK5 drum units and less than a thousand 

cartridges a month. 

The market was small, but growing. A new laser printer 

David Connett 

Creative Partner at Connett and Unland 

GbR 

was a significant investment and not every 

business had one. Typewriters, dot matrix 

and golf ball printers were very much the 

mainstay office printer and the ribbon 

companies had the advantage. They knew 

the market and quickly added remanufactured 

laser cartridges to their catalogues. 

The challenge was finding customers that 

used laser printers, and this invariably 

meant picking up the phone book and 

calling each company and asking the 

question “do you have a laser printer?” If they had, you knew, 

if they didn’t, you might end up explaining what they were 

and how they worked. 

The sales strategy was simple. The cartridges are 

expensive and can be refilled, and you save money, it’s good 

for the environment, and you could tailor the cartridge to suit 

a particular requirement. For instance, graphic designers 

wanted a very dark print for producing camera-ready copy 

for advertising etc. and would pay a premium. 

It was a regular practice to buy a new OEM cartridge, 

remove the OEM OPC and replace it with a Dainippon OPC 

that gave a dark print. Ideal for graphic designers and 

profitable for remanufacturers. The OEM cartridge was £70 

($92/ €78), and the Dainippon drum was £20 ($26/ €22), 

labour and packaging was another £8 ($10/ €9). A £98 

($129/ €109) cartridge that you could sell on for £140 ($184/ 

€156). You made a good profit, and you had a new OEM 

OPC as a spare. 

Apart from Lexmark, the OEMs didn’t remanufacture 

cartridges although HP did dip their toe in the water with a 

THE RECYCLER • ISSUE 300 • NOVEMBER 2017 

3

FEATURE: Remanufacturing – The last twenty-five years 

remanufactured SX cartridge. Thankfully it was poorly made, 

and it never took off! Later a few OEMs introduced a 

“compatible” range of cartridges for HP printers. 

Enter inkjet 

Inkjet emerged into the market a few years after laser and 

soon became to the home solution of choice because it was 

cheaper to buy an inkjet printer even though the cost per 

page was significantly higher. The ubiquitous 26A cartridge 

was the money maker. I recall receiving a request from a 

major brand to source ten thousand OEM 26A cartridges. At 

the time, you could buy them at about $10.50 (€8.88) each in 

the USA, but I didn’t have a spare $105,000 (€88,000) in the 

bank. So, I did what every good salesperson does, I 

increased the price to $12.95 (€10.95) each and said it was 

payment with order, thinking they wouldn’t go for it. I faxed 

over the quote and thought I would hear no more, but three 

days later my bank manager phones and tells me that I have 

just received $129,500 (€109,600) in my bank account. So, I 

bought the cartridges and shipped them to the customer 

along with the invoice to reconcile the transaction. Ten days 

later I received another $129,500 (€109,600). Yes, they paid 

twice, and it took almost a year for them to accept that they 

had made a mistake and take the money back. This doesn’t 

happen anymore! 

Empties and IP 

Sourcing empties was a challenge, and it was common to 

have a two-price strategy depending on whether there was a 

cartridge supplied to remanufacture, or one needed to be 

sourced. Deposits were charged on cartridges to offset the 

cost of the OPC and cartridge. 

Empties were, are and always will be a challenge, but it 

was possible to make substantial returns on dealing in 

empties. Most remanufacturers had their in-house collection 

programmes, but the problem was always to have the 

empties you need when you need them. This is where the 

brokers were able to fill gaps in the market, and you could 

barter your surplus cartridges for the ones you needed. 

The industry was, and is, incredibly successful at collecting 

empties, and by the late nineties more cartridges were being 

collected than were needed for remanufacturing and the bulk 

shipping of empties to Asia and North America was standard 

practice. 

From an IP point of view remanufacturing someone’s 

cartridge for them was IP risk-free because of the first sale 

doctrine. Buying, remanufacturing and selling a cartridge 

carried more IP risk, but it was a known and manageable risk. 

Enter the new built 

In 2001 the Basel Action Network did a huge expose on the 

illegal trade in e-waste that was ending up in China for 

processing. In 2006 and based on a story first published in 

the South China Morning Post, The Recycler published an 

article about the dumping of waste in Guiyu, China. The 

iconic picture of a child sat on a pile of e-waste went global. 

The Chinese government were quick to act and banned the 

import of e-waste cartridges, and they established a 

licensing system that is still in effect today that carefully 

controls the importation of cartridges. The licensing 

programme was limited to established companies, and the 

effect was to limit the growth of remanufacturing in China. 

For Chinese companies that couldn’t source enough 

empties for remanufacturing a new source of newly made 

empties appeared on the market. These newly built empties 

were sold on the Chinese domestic market and found their 

way into the Middle East, African and Eastern European 

markets and were quickly converted into new cartridges. But 

as replica cartridges, they clearly breached at least one or 

more of over seven thousand patents. 

Today new-build cartridges are part of the market mix, but 

the argument continues as to whether they infringe IP or not. 

The market today 

© 2006 Basel Action Network (BAN) 

The office print market is changing, and we are all printing 

less. The main reasons for the reduction in print are the 

increasing use of connected technology, but we still need to 

print, and the paperless office is still a long way down the 

road. 

The overall market has contracted by around 8 percent 

between 2014 and 2016. Within that global market 

contraction, the demand for OEM supplies has increased by 

five percent to sixty-six percent. This can be attributed to the 

growth of MPS and Instant Ink programmes that have grown 

faster than the decline in traditional transactional sales of 

OEM products. 

4 THE RECYCLER • ISSUE 300 • NOVEMBER 2017

“ 

The market will continue to change, and printing 

won’t disappear, but some of the big brands will. 

“ 

New 

Build 

12% 

Reman 12% 

Counterfeit 2% 

OEM 73% 

The next five years 

The market will continue to change, and printing 

won’t disappear, but some of the big brands will. 

A couple of informal surveys conducted by The 

Recycler this year indicates that the market 

expects the number of major OEM brands to 

shrink from around twenty to around ten. 

[visit therecycler.com/brands/ to vote on 

which brands you think will disappear] 

The most significant change will be how you 

market your products. By 2020 more than half the 

working population will be under forty and 

businesses need to consider new ways of 

communicating to an audience where media 

consumption is rapid, multitasking is the norm 

and filtering information quickly is a necessity. 

Counterfeit 

10% 

2016 Market share laser 

The market for remanufactured products has 

contracted from around twenty-five percent in 2014 

to about eighteen percent today. While the volumes 

are down, there is a trend away from producing high 

volume, low margin cartridges to more high value, 

fast moving niche products. The challenge for 

remanufacturers is adapting to a more contractual 

sales model (MPS / Instant Ink) rather than the 

traditional transactional model. 

Technology is at the more prevalent than ever. In 

2016 HP launched a firmware upgrade that locked 

out most aftermarket cartridges. After a tremendous 

amount of media pressure, they relented and 

provided a rollback. Interestingly my source at HP 

said the upgrade had been successful and about 70 percent 

of printer users did not take advantage of the rollback. 

All of the OEMs have the technology to lock out the 

aftermarket, and in a declining market must be tempted to do 

so. The time is probably right to engage with OEMs and 

governments to establish a licensing system, like the auto 

industry, where technology can be licensed to ensure a fair 

and even market for all products that benefit the consumers. 

New 

Build 

25% 

Reman 7% 

2016 Market share Inkjet 

The next twenty-five years 

OEM 59% 

I hope to be around and hopefully will have got a book or two 

published and written my memoirs. As an industry 

remanufacturing is, in its broadest sense, a twenty-firstcentury 

core activity because societal and political pressures 

will ensure that everything we buy and consume can be 

remanufactured or reused. No-fill to landfill. 

R 


5

IN THIS ISSUE 

In this Issue 

Remanufacturing 

The last twentyfive 

years 

David Connett looks back on the 

last twenty-five years to see how 

the industry has changed and 

where it will be going in the next 

twenty-five years. 

Starts page 3 

IR Italiana 

Riprografia 25 years 

in the industry 

IR Italiana Riprografia was 

founded in 1992, read about 

their history. 

Page 44 

3: FEATURE: 

Remanufacturing – The last twenty-five 

years 

World Focus 

8: EU confirms guidelines on remanufactured 

products; WISeKey prevents ink cartridge 

counterfeiting 

10: Another September 13th update disaster; 

Printer manufacturers face French lawsuit 

11: Canon settles with Amazon reseller; HP’s 

UAE customers still falling victim to 

counterfeit products 

12: Italian remanufacturer locked in legal battle 

14: Troubled Xerox faces federal lawsuit and job 

losses; JSC Skorpiono Takas hosts two 

industry seminars 

16: Pelikan team jets off to China in Print-Rite 

visit; Tesco awards DCI Blue Rating 

17: Inkjet Printing Bounces Back; 2018 WEEE 

open scope consequences 

City News 

18: Nu-Tone announces acquisition of Densi; 

Staples sale completed 

19: Restore PLC reveals half-year results; 

Toshiba’s struggles with chip unit sale 

Around the Industry 

20: 2017 is a fruitful year for CET Group; ITDL 

merges companies 

21: Honest Inks added to UK parliament 

supplier list; Microsoft Office 2007 

discontinued 

22: Italian study explores sustainable future; 

Armor Group uses sports to bring 

employees together 

24: Brückmann-Turbon will join the board at 

Turbon AG; Emery Van Donzel joins 

2Service; GIT achieves ISO standard 

26: Recycling cartridges: the privacy issue; 

EMEA printer shipments on the rise 

28: FEATURE: 

Twenty-five years and 300 editions 

30: FEATURE: 

The following story took place in 2006 and 

is entirely true! 

32: FEATURE: 

300 issues and a reflection on the industry 

34: FEATURE: 

In the beginning… or ‘Tales of the 

unexpected’ 

40: FEATURE: 

The Recycler: A solid rock in high seas 

42: FEATURE: 

Stranger in a strange land 

44: FEATURE: 

IR Italiana Riprografia 25 years in the 

industry 

46: FEATURE: 

Nubeprint - MPS is our mission 

48: FEATURE: 

wtas Carsten Weser 20 years in 

remanufacturing 

Products & Technology 

50: IR Italiana Riprografia announces 

compatible toners for Kyocera-Mita with 

chips; UniNet releases whole range of new 

products 

52: Aster releases Kyocera replacement toner 

kits; New releases from Embatex and 

Turbon; Mito releases new toner kits for 

Oki printers 

54: Apex releases replacement chips; Cross 

Imaging releases new ranges of toner 


page 7 

AD

WORLD FOCUS 

visit www.therecycler.com for all the breaking news 

EUROPE EU Commission, Guidelines, Remanufactured Products 

EU confirms guidelines on remanufactured products 

In a letter seen by The Recycler, the EU Commission confirmed the obligations of producers of remanufactured products under 

Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE Directive). 

The letter states that producers of 

remanufactured/refilled cartridges can turn to 

the EU’s Blue Guide, which gives information 

on the implementation of the Union’s 2016 

EU product rules, to discover whether or not 

what they have manufactured is regarded as 

being a new product or not. 

According to paragraph 1.4 of the Guide, a 

producer is deemed to be “either a 

manufacturer of a finished product or a 

component part of a finished product, 

producer of any raw material, or any person 

who presents himself as a manufacturer (for 

example by affixing a trademark).” 

As for the products themselves, paragraph 

2.1 of the Guide states that “a modified 

product sold under the name or trademark of 

a natural or legal person different from the 

original manufacturer, should be considered 

as new” and goes on to say that “The person 

who carries out important changes to the 

product carries the responsibility for verifying 

whether or not it should be considered as a 

GLOBAL WISeKey, New Technology, Counterfeiting 

Swiss IoT and cybersecurity company, 

WISeKey, has announced the launch of its 

new WISePrint solution, “the first fully 

integrated platform for printing cartridges 

protection and anti-counterfeiting.” 

WISePrint, a technology developed after 

years of working with well-established 

industry companies, “takes full advantage of 

WISeKey’s recognised know-how and 

experience” and has been designed to allow 

printer makers to both “secure their 

revenue” and keep their consumers 

protected from counterfeit cartridges. Such 

counterfeit ink and toner cartridges can 

have severe knock-on effects, including “bad 

user experience, potential health issues and 

damaged printers”, as well as having a 

significant impact both on the environment 

and on the global printer market, with 

an estimated annual loss of $3 billion 

(€2.5 billion). 

Now WISeKey’s revolutionary technology 

will help “reduce the risk of fraud and help 

printer manufacturers to protect their 

genuine cartridges”, thanks to such features 

as “a cryptographic hardware secure 

new product in relation to the relevant Union 

harmonisation legislation. If the product is to 

be considered as new, this person becomes 

the manufacturer with the corresponding 

obligations.” 

If the remanufactured/refilled cartridges 

are judged to be new “the product has to 

undergo a full conformity assessment before 

it is made available on the market”. However, 

“It is up to the natural or legal person who 

carries out changes or has changes carried 

out to the product to demonstrate that not 

all elements of the technical documentation 

need to be updated. Products which have 

been repaired or exchanged (for example 

element (WISeKey’s VaultIC) placed on the 

container” and a “turnkey high security 

Public Key Infrastructure solution”, which is 

currently used in e-passport applications. In 

addition the platform comes with “options 

and features built to provide easy 

deployment of any device/printer from the 

plant to the field. 

WISePrint’s VaultIC element features “a 

Near Field Communication (NFC) 

contactless interface or an industry standard 

wired connection to the printer main 

processor”, depending on printer 

integration, and WISeKey’s Certificate 

Management System “ensures the 

authentication of the cartridges”. In addition 

users will benefit from “smart refill 

management and high-speed patented 

multi-cartridges authentication.” 

“We are excited to be introducing 

WISePrint at the right time while printer 

makers are looking for more efficient 

solutions to protect their assets,” said Carlos 

Moreira, Founder and CEO of WISeKey. 

“This solution inherits a strong track record 

of WISeKey as a proven provider of managed 

following a defect), without changing the 

original performance, purpose or type, are 

not to be considered as new”. As a result they 

do not “need to undergo conformity 

assessment again”. 

As to the legality of being deemed a 

manufacturer, in paragraph 3.1 of the Guide it 

says “the responsibility of the manufacturer is 

placed on any person who changes the 

intended use of a product in such a way that 

different essential or other legal requirements 

will become applicable, or substantially 

modifies or re-builds a product (thus creating 

a new product), with a view to placing it on 

the market or for putting it into service”. 

As a result of these rules, anyone who 

places their remanufactured or refilled 

cartridges on the market, using their own 

trademark (providing said cartridges meet 

the EEE definition stated in Article 3(1)(a) 

of the WEEE directive), are considered as 

EEE producers and are bound by the 

relevant obligations. 

WISeKey prevents ink cartridge counterfeiting 

The Swiss-based company has unveiled new WISePrint solution designed to protect ink cartridges against counterfeiting. 

PKI services and the Company’s award 

winning WISeAuthentic platform for digital 

brand protection. For an efficient 

deployment of the WISePrint solution, 

WISeKey also offers extensive services such 

as provisioning, setup in premises and 

consultancy.” 

“WISePrint offers a significant technology 

breakthrough compared to other anticounterfeiting 

solutions on the market,” said 

Olivier Debelleix, Director of Brand 

Protection & Wearable Security Business 

Unit for WISeKey. “The alliance of a robust 

hardware security expertise demonstrated 

by WISeKey in many government and 

banking success stories, and the Company’s 

managed PKI platform that permits a real 

time tracking of the fraud, makes WISePrint 

‘The Solution’ to protect printer makers’ 

from counterfeiting.” 


WORLD FOCUS 


GLOBAL HP, Firmware Update 

Another September 13th update disaster 

HP’s latest security update is preventing third-party cartridges from functioning, prompting a slew of ‘Cartridge Problem’ errors. 

This new release from HP is the latest in a 

series of firmware-related issues reported on 

by The Recycler, such as the security update 

in 2016 which prompted widespread 

criticism and complaints from customers. In 

the wake of this technical debacle, HP 

apologised to its consumers but confirmed 

that it “will block non-HP cartridges again in 

the future”. 

Now history seems to be repeating itself 

with HP’s release of a new security update on 

13 September 2017, exactly a year since the 

previous one which caused such uproar. 

This new security update, which is an 

update for HP’s Officejet printers, “appears 

to block third-party ink from functioning 

correctly” according to an article by Martin 

Brinkman on ghacks.net. As a result, while 

some cartridges may still be accepted, many 

consumers are being faced with the following 

message on their printers: 

‘One or more cartridges appear to be 

damaged. Remove them and replace with 

new cartridges.’ 

Some of the printer models that are being 

affected include the HP Officejet Pro 6200 

Series, the HP Officejet 6800 series and the 

HP Officejet Pro 8600 series, to name a few. 

Different from the last security update, 

which locked out third-party consumables, 

this time consumers who are encountering 

difficulties with their remanufactured 

cartridges can resolve the issue by 

downloading the new firmware from HP’s 

support page. 

EUROPE France, OEMs, Legal 

Printer manufacturers face French lawsuit 

Executives from HP, Canon, Epson and Brother could be handed a prison sentence and all companies face hefty fines if found guilty. 

Environmental association, Halte à 

l’Obsolescence Programmée (Stop Planned 

Obsolescence) announced this week that 

four global printing manufacturers face a 

criminal lawsuit in France over claims that 

they deliberately limit the lifespan of 

their machines. 

The association brought the lawsuit to the 

Court of the Republic of Nanterre, in 

accordance with new legislation that was 

introduced by France to ensure that 

household appliances are more durable and 

long-lasting. It is the first case to arise as a 

result of the 2015 legislation. 

As a result of the new law, executives from 

the four printer manufacturers face a 

maximum sentence of two years in prison 

and will also be handed a maximum fine of 

€300,000 ($354,414) if found guilty. In 

addition, the companies could be fined five 

percent of the average annual revenue they 

have received over the previous three years. 

The French environmental association 

says that HP, Canon, Epson and Brother 

“have all broken the law by 

encouraging consumers to 

buy new printers instead of 

prolonging the lives of their 

old ones.” 

Laetitia Vasseur, founder of 

the association, stated, “The 

association was alerted by 

numerous people scandalised 

by the short lifespan of printers and 

ink cartridges. We have reason to believe 

there is truly a problem.” The association’s 

lawyer, Emile Meunier, said, “Millions of 

French print owners could be wronged.” 

Epson is a particular focus of the lawsuit, 

with the association claiming that its ink 

cartridges had been programmed to stop 

working when 20 percent of the ink still 

remained. The lawsuit also alleges a similar 

issue with the company’s ink pads, 

declaring, “The price of repairing or 

changing the ink pad (is) roughly the same 

as the price of buying a new printer.” 

Stop Planned Obsolescence has also 

denounced a continuous 

increase in the price of 

cartridges, with the ink costing 

twice as much as Chanel 

No 5 perfume, as well as 

denouncing the willingness of 

manufacturers to hinder the 

use of generic cartridges that 

are most cost effective for 

consumers. 

To date, Epson has offered no comment 

in response to the claims, and Brother 

and HP have also declined to comment on 

the lawsuit. 

Canon has stated to The Times that it 

would “co-operate with the authorities and 

that it was committed to sustainable 

economic growth.” 

Stop Planned Obsolescence has declared 

that it is now up to the Prosecutor to decide 

what action to take. If there is no 

prosecution, the association plans to file a 

civil action directly with the examining 

magistrate. 



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remanufacturing of printer cartridges 

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You can contact The Recycler via Twitter at @RecyclerMedia 

WORLD FOCUS 

EUROPE Canon, Legal, IP, Germany 

Canon settles with Amazon reseller 

The OEM announced the conclusion of its dispute with Jakubowski und Gert GbR (trading as DISA SHOP24). 

Canon Inc. announced that the Amazon 

reseller Jakubowski und Gert GbR, doing 

business under “DISA-SHOP24” or “DiSa 

GbR,” signed a cease-and-desist declaration 

regarding the offering and distribution of the 

laser toner cartridge models “DISA 

CE505X/CF280X” and “DISA CE505A/CF280A”. 

The offered cartridges of the above 

mentioned types allegedly were completely 

new cartridges without any OEM 

components. 

Canon said that the cease-and-desist 

declaration was signed based on the 

assumption of the use of the German portion 

of Canon’s European patent EP 2 087 407 

relating to a drum unit and a process 

IMEA HP Inc, Counterfeit, UAE 

cartridge. The cartridges concerned were 

offered via Amazon under the ASIN 

(Amazon Standard Identification Number) 

B06X3QTWNN and B01NA0BF42 and replace 

the cartridge models CE505X, CF280X, 

CE505A and CF280A compatible with HP laser 

beam printers. 

With the cease-and-desist declaration the 

reseller is obligated to refrain from offering 

and distributing the above mentioned laser 

toner cartridges and to render information 

and accounting about the offer and 

distribution of said laser toner cartridges. 

Furthermore, the reseller has accepted to 

pay damages to Canon and to destroy any of 

the above mentioned products in its 

possession or property. Canon confirmed 

Jakubowski und Gert GbR has already ceased 

offering the cartridge models via Amazon. 

HP’s UAE customers still falling victim to counterfeit products 

While searching for the cheapest print cartridges and toners, many people are being duped into purchasing fake print supplies. 

The global counterfeit market is vast and 

multi-faceted, dealing in everything from 

DVDs and fake designer handbags through 

to pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and various 

electronics. 

Print cartridges in particular are regularly 

produced by counterfeiters, due to the 

high demand from both individual 

consumers and businesses. In the UAE the 

prevalence of fake cartridges and toners is 

very high, with millions being seized over 

the last few years by law enforcement 

agencies. 

The OEM HP has an unfortunate history 

of being plagued by the sales of counterfeit 

products in the country, with The Recycler 

reporting back in May 2012 that HP had 

been forced to conduct anti-counterfeit 

raids in collaboration with the country’s law 

enforcement agencies. 

However despite the OEM’s best efforts 

and a stringent law enforcement campaign, 

The Khaleej Times reported in August 2017 

that many UAE consumers were still being 

duped into purchasing fake products. An 

article penned by Mathew Thomas, HP’s 

Managing Director for the Middle East, 

Turkey and East Africa, examined the 

ramifications of purchasing fake print 

supplies for your machine. 

In the piece, Thomas pondered why 

people tend to take a blasé attitude toward 

purchasing their cartridges and toner, 

particularly when the effects can be so 

damaging. The knock-on effects of using 

counterfeits can be very severe, ranging 

from expensive re-prints, poor colour 

quality, toner splatter and leaking cartridges 

all the way through to contaminated key 

parts and even irreparable damage to 

consumer’s printer which renders its 

warranty void. 

So why do people purchase these 

counterfeits, and where do they find them? 

As Thomas reports, many counterfeits are 

dispensed by “dubious online sales sites 

and unapproved stores” and their allure 

arises through their cheaper price. They 

can also be very difficult to spot, with many 

products closely resembling the genuine 

item, even down to specific details of 

packaging. 

Adding to the problem, the money which 

duped consumers spend on these 

counterfeit printing supplies is funnelled 

directly back into illegal activities and the 

world of organised crime, creating a 

vicious cycle. 

With counterfeit cartridges and toner 

being produced in such quantities, HP and 

the region’s law enforcement agencies have 

elected to take a hard line, working in close 

collaboration to both investigate and 

confiscate these fake products in a series of 

raids and seizures. 

The Recycler cited an article from The 

Gulf News in June 2012 in which HP warned 

that counterfeit manufacturers could 

expect “relentless” action, and there is no 

sign of the OEM’s campaign against 

their stream of fake products letting up 

anytime soon. 



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WORLD FOCUS 


EUROPE Ecoservice di Santirelli Paolo, Legal, Italy 

Italian remanufacturer locked in legal battle 

Earlier this year, PACTO, the Italian Association of Remanufacturers brought a legal action against remanufacturer Ecoservice; now 

Ecoservice is fighting back in the courts. 

In September 2017, The Recycler covered the 

court case that raged between PACTO, the 

Italian Association of Remanufacturers, and 

cartridge remanufacturer Ecoservice di 

Santarelli Paolo. PACTO had filed a complaint 

against Ecoservice three years previously in 

September 2014 at the court in Macerata, 

citing that, on two separate occasions in 

March 2014, Ecoservice had been found to be 

selling new cartridges as remanufactured. 

This was discovered when a professional 

investigator working with PACTO made two 

test cartridge purchases from Ecoservice; on 

both occasions, when inspected, the 

supposedly remanufactured cartridges were 

found to be new. The court was also shown 

sales and purchase invoices, as well as 

delivery notes, supporting PACTO’s claim 

against the remanufacturer. 

In translated court papers seen by The 

Recycler, the court found in favour of the 

plaintiffs, and confirmed that on at least two 

occasions new toners that had not been 

remanufactured were “made to pass” for 

regenerated and were sold at a lower price 

than the price of a remanufactured toner. 

An act that can qualify as unfair 

competition conduct is one that “directly or 

indirectly of any other means not complying 

with the principles of professional and 

appropriate fairness to hurt the other 

company. “ 

The Judge in Macerata subsequently found 

in favour of PACTO and awarded the 

association damages of €5000 ($5979). The 

court also awarded PACTO €6569 ($7855) for 

costs and disbursements. 

PACTO, which was established in 2009 and 

includes Sapi, Eco–Recuperi and Microlaser 

Italia, aims to promote any initiative that 

helps to support the development and 

progress of the Italian remanufacturing 

industry. According to the association, 

genuine remanufacturers currently hold a 10 

percent share of the Italian toner cartridge 

market, which is currently estimated to be 

around nine million cartridges per year. The 

Italian government accounts for around three 

million of the total market sales. 

Ecoservice di Santarelli Paolo was first 

started back in 1996 and now has a staff of 

over 60 employees. In 2016 the company 

produced 40, 000 cartridges per month, 50 

per cent of which were for the export market. 

Now, in response to the court findings, 

Ecoservice is launching an appeal and is also 

issuing a cease and desist order against 

PACTO and its members. 

In an email sent to The Recycler regarding 

the case, Ecoservice’s owner, Santarelli Paolo 

accuses PACTO and their members of 

“disseminating false and incorrect 

information about Ecoservice, based on a 

sentence issued by a nonprofessional judge” 

who “…has made grave mistakes.” 

Paulo also states that his company is 

not only a remanufacturer of printing 

consumables but also distributes compatible 

consumables and explains that in Italy the 

word “compatible” is used for the “new and 

non-original” cartridges. His email goes on to 

say that PACTO is an Association representing 

five Italian companies that produce and sell 

printing consumables that are both 

remanufactured and compatible. 

These are companies in competition with 

Ecoservice and, according to Paolo, they have 

a marginal share in the Italian market of nonoriginal 

printing consumables. They are also 

all of smaller dimensions than Ecoservice in 

terms of turnover, number of employees, 

production and commercial spaces and Paolo 

explained that, in the past, PACTO has moved 

other actions against Ecoservice, both in civil 

and penal law. These have been definitively 

rejected by Italian judges. 

Regarding the specific complaint which led 

to the judgement and penalty, Paulo states 

“…that PACTO, in 2014, held out a civil suit 

against Ecoservice and hired a private 

investigator for purchasing from our 

production headquarter, at two occasions, nr. 

6 cartridges, without specifying, at the 

moment of the purchase, the intention to buy 

a “compatible” or “remanufactured” (this can 

be deducted by the investigators’ statements 

and by the investigative report, which is 

attached to the proceedings of PACTO). In 

the transport document which Pacto itself has 

attached in the proceeding, it is clear that the 

delivered cartridges were actually 

“compatible” and that these were not passed 

off as “remanufactured”, even though the 

cartridges were packed in non-coherent 

boxes (as in that moment the proper boxes 

were not available).” 

According to Paolo “The first instance 

judge has incredibly accepted the requests of 

PACTO, only the basis of the witness proof 

requested by the complaining party, 

considering it reliable despite its general 

nature at the time of examination by the 

judge and the paper documents produced by 

PACTO itself. That [according to Paolo] 

contradict their own witness and the evident 

contradiction between the investigative 

report and what has been reconstructed by 

Pacto during the proceedings and that the 

witness proofs of Ecoservice that are 

coherent with all objective probative 

elements reported as well by PACTO.” 

Paolo also states “A further mistake of the 

Judge consists in having believed in a damage 

based on the fact that cartridges had been 

sold at an anti-competitive price, lower than 

its market value. This is pure judiciary fantasy, 

since PACTO has not mentioned about nor 

the market prices of remanufactured nor the 

prices of the compatible ones in the process. 

Therefore, the judge could not know the 

market price of the cartridges, object of the 

process matter; yet he accepted the request 

of PACTO.” 

In closing his email Paolo says, “For all 

these reasons, and as Ecoservice has already 

appealed to the Italian Justice, we believe that 

the statements that appeared on “The 

Recycler”, that describe the event as an “An 

act that can qualify as unfair competition 

conduct that directly or indirectly of any 

other means not complying with the 

principles of professional and appropriate 

fairness to hurt the other company” are 

absolutely unfounded, incorrect and not 

permanently proven. 

According to Paolo, Ecoservice has issued 

the cease and desist order to the association 

PACTO alleging that their behaviour “is 

exceeding the limits of correctness between 

the competing companies.” 

Editor’s note: The above story is based on Mr 

Santarelli Paolo’s email in response to our 

story published on 13th September 2017 as, 

following our editorial guidelines, he is 

allowed a right of response. 

The Recycler editorial guidelines offer a right 

of reply where there is significant criticism or 

allegations of wrongdoing because it can help 

achieve accuracy in our news output. 


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WORLD FOCUS 


NORTH AMERICA Business, Jobs, USA 

Troubled Xerox faces federal lawsuit and job losses 

It is a turbulent year for Xerox, as the corporation’s American unit is slapped with a federal lawsuit and is forced to cut jobs across 

three US states. 

Earlier this month, the company became the 

subject of a federal lawsuit filed by Californiabased 

avocado-grower Eco Farms, which 

consisted of a 22-page complaint accusing 

Xerox of “demanding extreme and illegal fees 

on its products and services.” 

The suit, which was filed at the U.S. District 

Court in Rochester, claimed Xerox had not 

adhered to the June 2013 agreement which 

was reached between the two companies, with 

Xerox frequently charging higher rates than 

those set out in the agreement. 

It was also alleged that Xerox “induces 

individuals and entities to contract for 

equipment and supply services without 

disclosing the true cost of such services” and 

the company was accused of burying 

“unconscionable and self-serving contractual 

provisions in its fine print”. 

Eco Farms concluded its contract with the 

corporation by paying out $24,609 (€29,073) 

and removed the Xerox equipment it had been 

using off-site with the intention that Xerox 

would come and collect it. However Xerox did 

not pick up the equipment and handed Eco 

Farms a bill of $11, 575 (€9,797) “for the cost of 

its machine”, which Eco Farms refused to pay. 

It was asserted by the Rochester Business 

Journal, which reported on the lawsuit, that 

the net cost of the claim could be as high 

as $5 million (€4.82 million), because the 

“requested class includes all Xerox customers 

in the United States that paid a fee that was not 

authorised in their lease agreements since 2011 

and all Xerox customers that paid a termination 

fee penalty in violation of their lease 

agreements since 2011.” 

The impact on staff 

Shortly after news of the lawsuit broke, Xerox 

announced that it would be cutting 100 jobs, 

with the losses affecting the company’s 

branches in the Rochester locale as well as in 

Oregon, Texas and as far afield as the United 

Kingdom. 

The company’s reason for the job losses was 

its implementation of an initiative to become 

“more efficient and responsive to our markets”. 

The Democrat & Chronicle revealed that the 

cuts had primarily been made from Xerox’s 

“Information Management and Finance 

groups”. A spokesman from Xerox, Bill McKee, 

stated that although some employees had had 

to leave their roles right away, others were able 

to stay on for a limited time before giving up 

their position. 

Further cuts 

Not long after these 100 job losses had been 

announced, Xerox went public once again to 

announce that even more employees would be 

stripped of their jobs, as the corporation had 

decided to shut down a unit at its Webster 

facility in New York. 

A local media outlet, Morningside 

Maryland, revealed that Xerox would be laying 

off 115 staff and reported that the scandalwracked 

corporation had “filed a Workers 

Adjustment and Retraining Notification”. 

Xerox revealed that the reason for these 

further cuts was “economic”. 

EUROPE JSC Skorpiono Takas, OOO Infotronic, Events 

JSC Skorpiono Takas hosts two industry seminars 

In partnership with its subsidiary, OOO Infotronic, the company has hosted two remanufacturing seminars, one in Lithuania and one in Belarus. 

Lithuanian wholesale printing consumables 

distributor, JSC Skorpiono Takas, along with its 

Belarus-based subsidiary company, OOO 

Infotronic, held two remanufacturing 

seminars last week, one in Panevezys and one 

in Minsk. 

27 companies were in attendance at the 

Lithuanian seminar and 42 attended the event 

in Minsk. During the seminars attendees were 

given detailed technical information about 

brands, and there was an in-depth discussion 

of IP patents and their influence in Europe. 

The main purpose of both seminars was to 

give companies a fresh insight into cartridge 

refilling and the advantages of remanufactured 

cartridges, as opposed to the distribution of 

cheap compatibles. 

Prominent seminar guests included Print- 

Rite, represented by Seashell Caixinmiao and 

Frank Fan; Imex, represented by Miguel 

Garcia; and Goldengreen, represented by 

Andrejus Jeršovas. 

JSC Skorpiono Takas has a long history as a 

seller of printing consumables, serving as a 

distributor in the Baltic States for 25 years and 

offering the “largest regional assortment of 

consumables from one warehouse”. Its 

subsidiary, OOO Infotronic, has been 

operating almost as long in Minsk, with a total 

of 23 years under its belt. 







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WORLD FOCUS 


NORTH AMERICA Print-Rite, Pelikan, Business 

Pelikan team jets off to China in Print-Rite visit 

Two months after the announcement Pelikan’s team toured the Print-Rite facilities in China to discuss and progress the 

integration process of the two companies. 

The Recycler reported earlier this year that 

the Chinese Print-Rite Group had acquired 

the assets of Pelikan Hardcopy, giving them 

exclusive rights to manufacture unique, highquality 

cartridges, using Pelikan’s brand, 

under a 30-year licensing agreement. 

The RM30 million ($6.9 million/ €6.1 

million) sale of Pelikan’s hardcopy supplies 

business included manufacturing, sales and 

distribution subsidiaries. Pelikan, which has 

built up a strong reputation in the European 

market, selected Print-Rite, with its 2,600 

patents, as the most fitting choice of partner 

in a move which Print-Rite’s founding 

chairman described as “an important 

strategic collaboration for the two highly 

reputable companies.” 

Now, two months after the announcement 

of their alliance, the two companies have 

begun the process of unifying their 

businesses, with management teams from 

Print-Rite and Pelikan getting the feel for 

each other’s facilities and new colleagues. 

Most recently, a press release from PRP 

Solutions reported that a team from Pelikan 

had jetted off to China to tour Print-Rite’s 

offices and production facilities in order to 

“trust each other personally and to work 

together as one team.” 

During the visit, Print-Rite’s technical 

experts explained their production processes 

and quality control measures. Print-Rite’s 

strategy is to invest heavily in “developing 

products that respect the IP of the original 

printer manufacturer”, a strategy approved 

by Pelikan. 

With all current trading having been 

transferred to two new companies, based in 

France and Germany, both trading under the 

name PRP Solutions, the union of traditional 

European company Pelikan and China’s 

Print-Rite arises from a desire to produce 

“more superior and reliable products”. 

EUROPE DCI, Tesco, Blue Rating 

Tesco awards DCI Blue Rating 

Dynamic Cassette International has recently achieved the highest audit rating from UK supermarket giant Tesco. 

DCI, the inkjet and toner cartridge 

remanufacturer, has announced that it has 

been awarded a blue rating from Tesco, the 

highest audit rating that can be achieved. 

The Blue Rating, which is internationally 

recognised, was awarded to DCI after an 

audit carried out by an approved Tesco 

auditor. During this process “everything 

from products, processes, materials and 

cleanliness is scrutinised to ensure that a 

supplier meets a strict criteria in order to 

supply Tesco stores.” 

DCI’s Health and Safety Manager, Sean 

Hill, said in response to the rating, “This 

rating is an amazing achievement for us, 

and we are really proud to obtain a 

standard that is only awarded to a handful 

of suppliers. Our partnership with Tesco 

has spanned more than a decade, supplying 

remanufactured inkjet cartridges, and we 

are so pleased to continue to be a supplier 

of the highest class.” 

Now that DCI has been awarded a blue 

rating, the company will no longer need to 

undergo “the more rigorous annual audit 

process”, instead only needing to be 

audited once every two years. However DCI 

is keen to assure consumers that it will not 

become complacent as a result, with Hill 

commenting, “Although we have always 

been confident in our products and 

processes, we know how much hard work 

goes into maintaining such high standards, 

and the rating is truly testament to the way 

in which we operate, and the commitment 

of our staff.” 







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WORLD FOCUS 

GLOBAL Ninestar, Inkjet, Business 

Inkjet Printing Bounces Back 

After experiencing a downturn ten years ago inkjet printing has been rejuvenated and is now going from strength to strength. 

Ninestar’s Senior Product Manager, Jarek 

Yang, examines the boom to bust – and back 

again – projectile of inkjet printing. 

Charting the industry’s early successes, 

Yang writes, “From ancient China’s movable 

type printing and 1950’s modern inkjet printer 

prototype to 1970’s rapid development of 

inkjet printing, we can see that inkjet printing 

was booming.” 

However, the global financial crash of 2008 

dealt the industry a withering blow and for a 

while it seemed that inkjet printing was on its 

way out. But over time, as economies across 

the world began to right themselves and 

innovations in various sectors were made, 

new technological developments rejuvenated 

inkjet printing and now, as Yang explains, the 

industry “is entering a new age.” 

Part of this success is due to the 

improvement of manufacturing capacity and 

an increase in inkjet printing speed, 

innovations which have enabled OEMs such as 

Epson and HP to enter “a new profitable 

market.” 

Analysis of industry data indicates that total 

inkjet cartridge revenue is on the rise and that 

cartridges take up 58 percent of worldwide 

office printing revenue, leading to 

expectations that the business inkjet industry 

will continue to expand. 

Yang believes that business office users are 

looking for the following qualities in the ink 

they use on a daily basis: 

1. Fast-drying 

2. Water-proof 

3. Reliable and stable ink, to reduce 

maintenance costs 

4. Inks that can preserve office 

documentation 

Bearing these factors in mind, over the last 

17 years Ninestar has developed Everbrite 

Office, “a professional ink solution for 

business and office users”. 

Everbrite Office has been specially designed to: 

1. Ensure reliable printing without clogging, 

and provide virtually maintenance-free 

operation 

2. Be water and scratch resistant 

3. Be fadeless for 100 years under normal 

atmospheric conditions 

4. Offer high-quality colour performance 

EUROPE WEEE, Regulations 

2018 WEEE open scope consequences 

From August 2018 the EU has decided that the ten WEEE categories are to be replaced by six new categories and the scope will be 

expanded. 

The Waste Electrical and Electronic 

Equipment Directive, which was made an 

EU law in February 2003, was instituted to 

set collection, recycling and recovery targets 

for electrical goods, with the overall aim of 

recycling “at least 2% of electrical and 

electronics waste equipment by 2016”. 

Over the years the directive has 

undergone a number of revisions. Until 

recently it had consisted of 10 categories, 

including large household appliances, 

lighting equipment, consumer equipment 

and medical devices. But this is now set to 

change, with the EU replacing them with 6 

new categories: 

1. Temperature exchange equipment: 

fridges, freezers, air conditioning, etc. 

2. Screens, monitors, and equipment 

containing screens having a 

surface greater than 100cm²: TVs, 

computer monitors, etc. 

3. Lamps 

4. Large equipment (any external 

dimension more than 50cm): 

washing machines, dish washers, 

cooking stoge and hoven, 

cookers, luminaires, large 

printers, copying equipment, large 

equipment in general, etc. 

5. Small equipment (no external dimension 

more than 50cm): vacuum cleaners, 

calculators, video cameras, cameras, hifi 

equipment, watches and clocks, smoke 

detectors, payment systems, etc. 

6. Small IT and telecommunication 

equipment (no external dimension more 

than 50cm): mobile phones, 

tablets, routers, laptops, GPS, 

printers, etc 

As a result of these new 

categories, according to 

WEEELogic, national 

compliance schemes “across 

Europe […] are currently 

working on a new structure 

that finally allows them to report back to 

their national Ministry the total EEE put on 

the market by producers as well as WEEE 

collected, treated etc. according to the six 

new categories. Therefore over the coming 

months we expect most national WEEE 

schemes to provide new price lists as well as 

new declaration categories and subcategories 

for producers.” 







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17

CITY NEWS 

OEM share prices 

Ocotber 2017 

Prices correct as of 1st October 2017 

COMPANY SEPT OCT 

Brother Industries (Yen) ¥ 2494 2608 

Canon (Yen) ¥ 3793 3957 

Dainippon Ink & (Yen) ¥ 3790 4130 

Chemicals 

Sun Chemicals parent company 

HP Inc. (US$) $ 19.39 17.38 

Hubei Dinglong (RMB) ¥ 10.17 9.93 

Jadi (MYR) M 0.06 0.06 

LG Chem (S Korean Won) W 372k 385k 

Matsushita Electric (Yen) ¥ 1462 1652 

Industrial Co. 

Panasonic parent company 

Mitsubishi Chemicals (Yen) ¥ 1007 1110 

Ninestar Corporation (RMB) ¥ 26.88 29.36 

Formerly Apex Microelectronics 

Oki (Yen) ¥ 1459 1497 

Samsung (S Korean Won) W2350k 2732k 

Seiko Epson (Yen) ¥ 2737 2682 

Turbon AG (Euro) € 10.56 11.00 

Xerox (US$) $ 32.21 32.71 

UK Waste Prices 

price per tonne 

Aluminium €10.39 8.41 

Plastic €68.16 71.53 

Paper € 1.03 1.30 

Currency 

€/US$ 1.19 1.18 

€/£ 0.91 0.90 

£/US$ 1.31 1.12 

Oil Price 

Crude oil - (US$) 54.07 56.95 

‘Brent Crude futures, 

1-Pos IPE close’ per barrel 

Shipping Prices 

Europe (Hamburg/Antwerp/ 886 714 

Felixstowe/Le Havre) 

Mediterranean (Barcelona/ 791 692 

Valencia/Genoa/Naples 

USWC (Los Angeles/ 1661 1414 

Long Beach/Oakland) 

USEC (New York/Savannah 2661 1991 

Norfolk/Charleston) 

Sources: HMRC, FT.com, krx.co.kr, tse.or.jp, 

Environment Exchange, packagingnews.co.uk 

*Brent Crude price is for October 2017 

Find out more about our Weekly Newsletter at www.therecycler.com/newsletters 

NORTH AMERICA Nu-tone, Densi, Acquisition 

Nu-Tone announces 

acquisition of Densi 

Nu-Tone revealed that it has now completed the acquisition of Densi’s assets. 

Earlier this year the news was broken that 

Densi, a distributor of imaging supplies and 

parts, had been forced to file a notice of 

intention due to “a downturn in the imaging 

aftermarket”, particular in Canada. This 

downturn was caused by several factors, 

including an increase in foreign 

competition, and three years of currency 

variations between the Canadian and 

US dollars. 

Densi had also revealed that a rebranding 

process which had taken place in 2015 had 

been “unprofitable”, despite the company 

devoting a significant amount of money. 

Finally, towards the end of May 2017 

The Recycler reported on the sale of 

Densi’s assets to four companies, among 

them Nu-Tone, a Quebec-based office 

imaging supplies business, which acquired 

Densi’s stock “and certain intellectual 

property assets.” 

NORTH AMERICA Staples, Sycamore Partners, Acquisition 

Staples sale completed 

“We are pleased to have completed this 

transaction and look forward to partnering 

with CEO Shira Goodman and the Staples 

management team as we seek to increase 

long-term profitability,” said Stefan Kaluzny, 

Managing Director of Sycamore Partners. 

“With the support of its dedicated associates, 

Staples is well-positioned to leverage its iconic 

brand and leading competitive position to 

drive even greater value for its business-tobusiness 

and retail customers in the U.S. 

and Canada.” 

In recent developments, Nu-Tone has 

formally announced its acquisition of Densi, 

stating that its commitment to its customers 

“is to ensure a smooth transition, while 

offering increased benefits.” 

Densi’s original website, www.densi.com, 

remains temporarily operational but the 

company has also developed a new website 

for its customers, www.nutone-densi.com, 

where consumers can learn all about the 

company’s latest products. 

In addition, Nu-Tone has also revealed that 

it has become an exclusive supplier of CET 

Group products in Canada. CET has an 

inventory of 5,000 “compatible quality 

products” designed for use in printers and 

photocopiers, including “a full range of inks”. 

“Nu-Tone itself is known for making and 

distributing high-quality remanufactured 

products, including EcoTone toner 

cartridges and Premium Toner cartridges”. 

Sycamore Partners announced it has completed the acquisition of Staples, Inc., which 

means Staples is now in private ownership. 

“We are excited about the tremendous 

opportunities ahead for the Company and our 

talented associates,” said Shira Goodman, 

Chief Executive Officer and President, Staples, 

Inc. “We look forward to benefitting from 

Sycamore Partners’ retail and wholesale 

experience as we work together to deliver 

exceptional products, services and expertise 

that enable businesses to work better.” 

As a result of the completion of the merger, 

the common stock of Staples will no longer be 

listed for trading on Nasdaq. 



CITY NEWS 

EUROPE Restore PLC, Acquisitions, Financials 

Restore PLC reveals half-year results 

The UK office services provider has unveiled its unaudited results as well as news of its acquisition of two shredding businesses 

A summary’s of the company’s half-year 

achievements revealed the following changes: 

• Group revenue up 57 percent to £86.9 

million ($114.7 million/ €95.7 million) 

• Document Management revenue up 74 

percent; operating profit up 63 percent 

• Relocations revenue up 21 percent; 

operating profit up 18 percent 

• Group adjusted profit before tax up 59 

percent to £15.3 million ($20.2 million/ 

€16.8 million) 

• Adjusted earnings per share up 38 percent 

to £0.109 ($0.143/ €0.120) 

• Good organic growth across both divisions 

• PHS Data Solutions successfully integrated 

• Restore Datashred performance ahead of 

expectations 

• 7 acquisitions completed since the start of 

the year 

• Interim dividend per share up 26 percent to 

£0.167 ($0.220/ €0.184) 

• Banking facilities increased and extended 

Charles Skinner, Chief Executive of Restore 

PLC, commented that, “We continued to make 

good operational and financial progress in the 

first half. In particular we delivered strong 

organic growth across the Group and our 

shredding business, which was significantly 

enlarged by a major acquisition in 2016, 

performed better than expected. 

“We will continue to pursue our strategy of 

organic and acquisitive growth and we are 

well positioned to gain further market share 

across all of our businesses. 

“The second half has started well and the 

Board expects to deliver a full year 

performance slightly ahead of its previous 

expectations.” 

The company’s strategy of acquisitive 

growth has already been put into effect this 

year with Restore simultaneously releasing 

news of its latest acquisitions along with the 

half-year report – the businesses involved are 

Lombard Recycling Limited and Data Shred 

Limited, two related secure shredding 

businesses that are located in London, 

grouped under the name ‘Lombard’. 

Describing this latest acquisition, Skinner 

said, “Lombard is the fifth secure shredding 

acquisition we have made since we acquired 

the Datashred business as part of our 

acquisition of PHS Data Solutions a year ago. 

It provides us with further economies of scale 

and extends our position as the UK’s second 

largest provider of secure shredding services.” 

Toshiba’s struggles with chip unit sale 

NORTH AMERICA Toshiba, Western Digital, Business 

The company’s plans to sell off its multi-billion dollar computer chip business have been plagued with last-minute difficulties. 

The Hi-Tech Facts reported last week that, 

while “Toshiba’s board signed off 

Wednesday” on selling the business to “a 

group led by Bain Capital Private Equity”, 

the deal has been complicated by the fact 

that Western Digital, Toshiba USA’s joint 

venture partner, has opposed it. 

Toshiba’s attempts to sell the business 

have been well-publicised ever since the 

international company first began seeking a 

buyer in January this year. Auditors “finally 

signed off in August after an investigation 

that centred on whether Toshiba had 

known in advance about the losses that 

emerged related to Westinghouse’s 

acquisition of CB&I Stone & Webster, a 

nuclear construction and services 

business.” 

Toshiba’s decision to sell its $18 billion 

(€15.1 billion) NAND memory chips 

business was taken at a company board 

meeting last Wednesday. The consortium 

“includes South Korea’s SK Hynix and other 

Japanese and foreign companies” and 

Toshiba released a statement saying that $3.2 

billion (€2.6 billion) “will be invested to 

stabilise the chip business operations”. 

Now it is reported that Bain, which has 

partnered with SK Hynix and “brought in 

deep-pocketed USA buyers of Toshiba chips 

such as Apple Inc. and Dell Inc. to bolster its 

bid” nevertheless faces last-minute problems 

in clinching the deal due to the opposition 

of Western Digital. 

Akira Minamikawa, principal analyst at 

HIS Markit, commented, “It’s clear to 

everyone that this Bain deal will have 

difficulty succeeding,” adding, “And strong 

players there are Samsung and Western 

Digital, not SK Hynix.” Only a few days later 

Reuters reported that Western Digital seeks 

injunction to block Toshiba sale. 

Western Digital, a US firm “which jointly 

invests in Toshiba’s main chip plant”, made 

the announcement of its pending 

injunction. This legal action is the latest 

chapter in the long tale of Toshiba’s 

decision to sell the chip business. Now, in 

the wake of the decision to sell the business 

to the Bain group and South Korea’s SK 

Hynix for $18 billion (€15.1 billion), 

Western Digital is seeking an injunction with 

the International Court of Arbitration where 

it “initiated proceedings against its partner 

earlier this year.” 

Western Digital argues that, as chip 

venture partner, Toshiba cannot make the 

sale without its consent. 

According to Reuters, “A panel of three 

arbitrators may be formed [...] and a 

decision on the injunction could come late 

this year before any deal closes”, a source 

has revealed. However a final ruling “is not 

expected before 2019.” 

Toshiba’s deal with the Bain group and SK 

Hynix currently remains unsigned, with 

Toshiba citing consortium member, Apple 

Inc., as the cause, with Apple “yet to agree to 

key terms.” For Toshiba this deal is crucial, as 

the conglomerate urgently needs funds to 

compensate for the failure of its nowbankrupt 

US nuclear facility, but time is 

running out and the threat of delisting is 

looming. 

Western Digital released a statement 

saying that “Toshiba’s decision had been 

disappointing, given that it had made major 

concessions” and that it was “vehemently 

opposed to a Bain deal” as the inclusion of 

the South Korean rival chipmaker 

“heightens the risk of technology leaks and 

introduces the risk that the deal may not 

clear regulatory reviews”. As yet, Toshiba has 

not commented in response. 


19

AROUND THE INDUSTRY 


ASIA CET, Business, Seminar 

2017 is a fruitful year for CET Group 

The Chinese-based producer of compatible toner and printer parts has had a positive business year, with a well-attended Shanghai 

seminar and new American warehouse opening. 

2017 marked two milestones for 20- 

year-old CET Group, with the 

company’s USA branch celebrating its 

11th birthday this year, as well as the 

opening of a brand new warehouse, 

and the Chinese parent company 

playing host to a well-attended 

industry seminar in Shanghai on 7 

September 2017. 

This National Seminar took place at 

the Renaissance Shanghai Caohejing 

Hotel and its slogan was “Make Your 

Future Colourful”. Its purpose was to 

expand the company’s brand, as well 

as to discuss its future developments and 

develop new collaborations with clients. 

A host of distinguished industry guests 

were in attendance, among them CET’s 

President, Steven Ma, General Manage Demi 

Dai, the Manager of CET’s Testing Centre, 

John McCracken, and the General Manager of 

the Group’s Shanghai branch, Liu Mingyan. 

Two representatives from Mitsubishi Chemical 

were also on hand to welcome the seminar’s 

guests of honour. 

Local GM, Liu Mingyan, started proceedings 

with a welcoming speech which expressed the 

Group’s gratitude to its clients. He was 

followed by President Steven Ma, whose 

speech, entitled ‘Creating Value for Clients’, 

dwelt on the Group’s market expansion and 

IMEA ITDL, Merger, Business 

ITDL merges companies 

ITDL Imagetec Ltd. has been merged with its parent company, Indian Toners & Developers Ltd. 

Indian Toners & Developers Ltd. (ITDL) and 

its subsidiary ITDL Imagetec Ltd. were both 

engaged in the same business of 

manufacturing of compatible toners. 

To consolidate the business of both 

companies, ITDL Imagetec Ltd has now been 

merged with ITDL which means the enlarged 

the progress it had made in the used machine 

and chip markets. He also explored the 

general development of the OA industry. 

Speeches were also given by Wang Junzhu, 

the General Manager of Hangheng Office 

Equipment Company, John McCracken, who 

spoke of the Group’s recent breakthroughs in 

R&D and Quality Control, and Liu Yunlong, a 

Mitsubishi Chemical rep who expounded on 

the current drum and toner markets. 

The seminar continued with a special sales 

promotion and bidding program, in which 

CET sold over RMB1 million’s ($452,000/ 

€128,600) worth of products, before ending 

with a dinner party. 

Meanwhile, across the ocean, the Group’s 

American unit was marking its 11th birthday. 

ITDL will now be focusing on international as 

well as the domestic Indian market. 

ITDL said that the merger also adds to the 

financial strength of the company, adding 

that it will also result in maximizing overall 

value of all the stakeholders and will improve 

the competitive position of the combined 

After first opening in the Greater 

Boston Area in 2006, the US 

subsidiary later moved to its current 

location in Raynham, Massachusetts. 

At this new site it has recently 

opened a new 30,000 sq ft 

warehouse. This building project 

kicked off in November 2016 and 

was finished in June 2017. In 

addition to the new facility, the 

branch also implemented a new 

barcode system, purchased a range 

of new equipment including 

forklifts, trucks and cherry-pickers, 

and hired extra workers in order to boost 

productivity and efficiency. 

Other branch developments include its 

branding transition from “China Eternal 

Copiers Technology USA Inc.” to “CET Group 

USA Inc”, as well as its ongoing successes in 

both the North and South American markets, 

which the company attributes to “the 

outstanding sales managers at this branch, 

who work tirelessly to ensure that their 

customers are getting the most for their 

money.” 

Looking to the future, CET Group has 

vowed to “continue to increase their brand’s 

influence, enhance cooperation with clients, 

and create high-quality products and endless 

value for our customers.” 

entity. It will also achieve greater efficiencies 

in operations with optimum utilization of 

resources and better administration. 

After the merger, both the companies are 

henceforth known by a single combined 

entity namely Indian Toners & Developers 

Ltd. (ITDL). 







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EUROPE Honest Inks, Government, Supplier 

Honest Inks added to UK parliament supplier list 

Nottingham based Honest Inks Ltd joins XMA and Banner on the UK Parliament direct payment supplier list. 

Nottingham based Honest Inks Ltd 

joins XMA and Banner on the UK 

Parliament direct payment supplier 

list. The direct payment list enables 

UK member of Parliament to order 

office and printing consumables from 

an approved supplier, and the 

supplier is paid directly from the 

Independent Parliament Standards 

Authority (IPSA). IPSA is independent of 

Parliament and the Government and takes 

decisions about the rules on business costs 

and expenses and on MPs’ pay and oversees 

a budget of £100-110m ($132-146m/ 

€112-124m). 

Honest Inks Owner and CEO, Suzanne 

Reeveley said “We are pleased to have been 

added to the IPSA direct payment supplier 

list. It has taken some time to work through 

the accreditation requirements so that we can 

now supply all the UK members of parliament 

with their printer supplies. A key challenge 

was adapting our website to accept orders 

and to meet IPSA’s stringent data 

management requirements. This was a 

massive learning curve for us, but our website 

is our storefront, and we will now take all that 

we have learnt working with IPSA and 

incorporate these features into a new website 

we plan to launch early next year.” 

Honest Inks was established in 2012 by 

Suzanne Reeveley who has been in the office 

supplies sector for most of her career selling 

OEM and remanufactured products. 

According to Reeveley “It has been a long 

journey building the business, but the 

circular economy concept is at the heart of 

what we do. Our long-term goal is to ensure 

no empty cartridge ends up in landfill, if it can 

be reused, it will be reused, and if it can’t it 

will be turned into something new and useful. 

It takes time to do this, and I think we could 

have bought cheap and sold high, but that 

would have meant a lot of cartridges ending 

up in landfill, which doesn’t fit our ethos. I 

think that our circular economy ethos helped 

us gain the accreditation. 



“Our supplies focus is on supplying OEM 

and UK remanufactured products and on 

collecting and reusing everything that we 

can. I know that this may upset a few 

industry people; However I want to be 

honest and say that sometimes people do 

need to stick to OEM products and that really 

remanufactured are never going to be as 

good as a new OEM. We can say that in some 

cases the print quality can be as good as the 

OEM originals but we all know that it is more 

than just that, like the error messages being 

flagged up by HP when a non-original 

cartridge is put in the printer and the chip 

issues we need to deal with. We want to work 

with and not fight against the OEMs, but we 

can only do that with the co-operation of the 

likes of HP, Canon and Epson. 

“My long-term goal is to ensure no empty 

cartridge ends up in a landfill, if it can be 

reused, it will be reused, and if it can't it will be 

turned into something new and useful. To that 

end, we are working with the local schools 

where I grew up as a child and attended 





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school. Our recycling scheme is aimed to raise 

money for the local Care Group and annual 

festival held at the school, while at the same 

time educating children about the choices 

they make for the future world they will be 

living in. Our newest charity we are proud to 

be supporting is Faith In Families in West 

Bridgford they are an independent adoption 

agency that believes every child has the right 

to grow up as part of a loving family, they do 

great work in the East Midlands, this is one 

that is also really important to me personally 

as I was adopted and understand first-hand 

the implications of being separated from your 

birth parents and the effects this can have on 

a child as they grow up. 

“Our message is simple: Choose to put your 

empty cartridge in the bin chances are it may 

end up in a landfill site. However, if you 

choose to take your empty to an Honest-Inks 

recycling box at your local school or Co-op 

store you are not only raising money for a 

good cause it will ensure that it will get 

remanufactured or reused.” 

GLOBAL Mircosoft Office, Software 

Microsoft Office 2007 discontinued 

Users will have to upgrade or face losing support for the soon-to-be-retired 

version of the software. 

Microsoft has announced that it will be 

retiring Microsoft Office 2007 from 10 

October 2017. As a result there will be no 

support for the software from that date, 

and users are advised to upgrade their 

Office package to Office 365 or Office 2016 

in order to receive the full benefit of new 

security updates and built-in features. 

To find out more about the different 

versions of Office available, and which 

would be most suitable, visit 

www.microsoft.com 


21



EUROPE ARTI-Italia, New Study, Sustainability 

Italian study explores sustainable future 

A new paper commissioned by Arti-Italia is soon to be published which will explore sustainable development in Italy’s printing 

consumables industry. 

This study, produced by Dr Alessandro 

Dragon, is entitled “Art of Regeneration: 

research on a sustainable future”. According 

to Mr Giovani Ravelli, the President of Arti- 

Italia, the purpose of the paper is “to shed 

light and say what is true and false about this 

sector. The research carried out represents 

the first and important analytical and 

professional document on the world of 

regeneration.” 

The study analyses not only the economic 

and strategic context but also “the legal and 

environmental contexts” and includes 

interviews with industry managers and 

entrepreneurs in order to benefit from their 

“direct testimony”. 

Its findings indicate that “sustainable 

development is possible on condition that all 

institutions, economic operators and 

consumers work in the direction of reducing 

the contrast between the economy and the 

environment. In this direction it is 

fundamental for companies to follow and 

pursue behaviours in compliance with the 

Giovanni Ravelli, Sales Manager, Emstar and 

President of ARTI-Italia 

rules shared by the community, both in 

terms of how to do business and in 

competition on the markets.” 

The paper advocates “a fair and 

transparent manner” and gives medium and 

long-term advice on how to achieve a 

sustainable future in the industry, citing the 

importance of adding concepts “such as 

green economy, circular economy, ecodesign 

and regeneration” into the “current 

vocabulary” and explaining the importance 

of understanding what effect we have on the 

environment. 

In addition, the paper instructs that those 

in the industry must “look at a policy that 

considers the effects of products 

throughout their life-cycle” as disposable 

waste “must give way to the philosophy of 

recycling, reuse and regeneration of 

used goods.” 

Italy’s Public Administration “is asked to 

make every effort to fully apply the existing 

Green Public Procurement rules” and the 

country’s private sector “is required to 

develop a greater awareness of the potential 

offered by the sector’s productions”. 

Arti-Italia concludes by urging companies 

to “learn to operate in a network by 

directing their efforts towards the Art of 

regeneration and sustainable development 

that unites them.” 

EUROPE Armor, Team Building, France 

Armor Group uses sports to bring 

employees together 

This year’s edition of the ARMOR Games in July was another team-building success. 

The Armor Group, a French-based 

company with 90 years of experience in 

print and digital coating technologies, is 

known in the industry for the interest it 

takes in its employees and their welfare. In 

2011, the company opened the ARMOR 

University near its Nantes facility, and now 

for the 4th consecutive year it has hosted 

its own sporting event, the ARMOR Games. 

This event, which took place this year in 

July 2017, unites the different sections of 

the company’s sporting association in an 

event which offers “a good opportunity for 

relaxation and shared pleasures”, according 

to Catherine Barreteau, pilot of “Social 

Life” at Armor. 

The Games included games of 

badminton, tennis, futsal, running and 

biking, with two different teams competing 

against each other for 2 hours in both 

indoor and outdoor events. 

The 100+ members of the Group’s 

sporting association are made up of 

employees recruited from all company 

sites. When they elect to join the Armor 

Sports Committee, which was formed in 

2008, they “pay a reasonable annual fee 

and also contribute to the vitality of the 

local sports associations in which they 

take licenses.” 

On this occasion, once the Games were 

concluded, the members also met for a 

“festive evening”, attended by the partners 

of the Commission as well as Group 

Management, the Works Council 

Committee and the town administration of 

Le Chevrolière. The evening was described 

by Barreteau as “A convivial moment that 

marks the territorial anchoring of this very 

dynamic Committee with Armor!” 

Next year’s Games is already eagerly 

anticipated, as it will mark the 10th 

anniversary of the founding of the Group’s 

sports association. 



EUROPE 2 Service, Business, Netherlands 

Emery Van Donzel 

joins 2Service 

Emery Van Donzel joins 2Service, a 

Dutch based solutions provider, as the 

Purchase Manager responsible for 

facility management, sourcing, 

purchasing, negotiations and procedure 

optimisation at the company. 

2Service BV supports manufacturers of 

consumer electronics in the field of parts 

supply by the distribution of original 

consumer electronics parts in the Benelux 

region to end users, resellers and repair 

shops. Samsung is an exclusive partner of 

2Service. 

Van Donzel joined the remanufacturing 

industry in 1996 when he joined Nashville 

based Oasis Imaging Products (Oasis) as 

their account manager for Germany. 

In 2000 Van Donzel was appointed the 

Sales Manager, Account Manager and Buyer 

for the newly created Oasis Imaging 

Products B.V. a subsidiary of Oasis Imaging 

Products Inc. At that time Oasis was one of 

the world’s top players in the development 

and distribution of printer cartridge 

components for non-OEM cartridges and 

exclusively supplied remanufacturing 

companies. 

In 2011 Oasis Imaging Products B.V. was 

renamed to Goat Labs B.V. and was acquired 

by Apex Print Technology in October 2013 

and became Apex Print Technology BV 

which was itself taken over by Static Control 

Components (Europe) Ltd. 

Emery Van Donzel 

EUROPE Turbon, Business 

Brückmann-Turbon will join 

the board at Turbon AG 

The Supervisory Board of Turbon AG has confirmed that major shareholder Mr Holger 

Brückmann-Turbon will take over as Chairman of the Management Board effective 

25 September. 

At its meeting on 25 September 2017, the 

Supervisory Board of Turbon AG will appoint 

Mr Holger Brückmann-Turbon to the 

Management Board and appoint him as 

Chairman of the Management Board. The 

appointment is in response to the repeated 

significant subtraction of the Group’s figures 

during the current financial year. At present, 

Mr Brückmann-Turbon is reviewing the halfyear 

report 2017 presented to the Supervisory 

Board by the current Management Board, as 

well as the planned numbers for the full year 

2017 and the coming financial year 2018. 

In 2013 Turbon acquired US remanufacturers 

ILG and Clarity Imaging 

Technologies and in 2104 acquired UK based 

remanufacturer, PBTI and in 2015 acquired 

Austrian remanufacturer Embatex AG. In 2016 

they added Berolina Schriftbild GmbH & 

Co.KG and Recart Druckerzubehor GmbH to 

the group. Two years ago, Turbon announced 

expected medium-term sales of €150 million 

($166 million). In 2016 the company said that 

“despite the difficult market conditions” and 

the challenge they pose in achieving “the 

traditional dealer business”, the 

remanufacturer will continue with “the 

strategic realignment of our corporate group”. 

This will include participating in “two 

enterprises operating in Europe”, including 


one with a “focus in the field” of MPS, and the 

other in the production of “labour-intensive 

products in a growing market, where we are 

not active at this time”, with conclusions 

expected in “the current year […] in both 

cases”. Last month The Recycler reported on 

the company’s lowering of figures ahead of its 

half-yearly statement. 

Mr Brückmann-Turbon holds approximately 

70 percent of the shares in Turbon AG 

through a holding company and had 

previously been a member of the 

Management Board between 1993 to 2006, 

and is expected to hold the position for 

period of up to two years. The final interim 

report for the first half of 2017 will be 

published on 29 September 2017. 

Shares of Turbon AG (FRA:TUR) traded up 

3.63% at 10.39. The stock has a 52-week low of 

9.86 and high of 17.45. 

EMEA GIT, ISO Standard, Business, Dubai 

GIT achieves ISO standard 

In the latest news from the Dubai-based remanufacturer, GIT announced 

they had been ISO certified, passing the stage 2 audit. 

Since it was first established in Dubai in 1999, 

The Recycler has reported numerous times on 

the fortunes and development of German 

Imaging Technologies (GIT), covering 

business awards, the launch of its new 

website, the opening of its new East African 

subsidiary, and its expansion, among other 

company news. 

Although it has not always been smooth 

sailing for the Dubai-based toner cartridge 

producer, with CEO Sassan Dieter Khatib 

Shahidi telling The National that GIT had 

faced near-bankruptcy in 2000, in recent years 

GIT has burgeoned and developed an 

ambitious expansion programme in the 

Middle East and Africa. 

Now, in the company’s most recent 

development, Shahidi announced via 

professional social media site LinkedIn that 

GIT was certified ISO 14001:2015 by the TUV 

of Germany, after passing its Stage 2 audit. 

Possible benefits to the company of 

achieving this certification include a reduction 

in waste, an improvement in resource 

efficiency, increased trust from both customers 

and stakeholders, an overall improvement in 

environmental impact, and increased business 

opportunities, among others. 




NORTH AMERICA Cartridge Recycling, Privacy 

Recycling cartridges: the privacy issue 

American woman draws attention to the issue as she seeks to recycle her Canon cartridge without impacting her privacy. 

The Boston Globe recently reported on the 

dilemma of East Providence-based Kathie 

Florsheim, a committed environmentalist 

who uses a variety of methods in order to 

reduce her impact on the environment, 

including using a hybrid car and keeping “a 

set of rain-collection barrels” outside her 

home, as well as recycling kitchen waste, 

light bulbs and batteries. 

As a result of her commitment to being 

eco-friendly, when Florsheim’s Canon printer 

cartridge ran out of ink she had every 

intention of recycling it. But when she read 

through Canon’s recycling policy on the 

company’s website she discovered that in 

order to do so, she would have to “submit 

her name, home address, telephone number, 

and email address.” 

Seeing this, Florsheim contacted Sean P. 

Murphy of the Boston Globe describing this 

procedure as “a cynical and frankly smarmy 

way of extracting valuable information from 

people who give a damn about the 

environment.” 

While global corporation Canon has 

demonstrated a strong commitment to 

recycling, recycling nearly “400,000 tons of 

cartridges since 1990” and reusing plastic, 

iron, copper and aluminium, Florsheim 

nevertheless worries about the company’s 

intrusion into the privacy of consumers who 

want to be similarly environmentally friendly. 

Boston Globe journalist Murphy is similarly 

sceptical, describing Canon’s demand for 

personal details as “scary”, though he 

acknowledges that this is a practice used by 

the majority of major retailers. In response to 

his concerns, Boston-based lawyer Preston 

Leonard commented, “Data harvesting, data 

aggregation, predictive modelling – call it 

what you want, but it all can get very creepy, 

very fast,” going on to add, “Before you know 

it, these companies can know way too much 

for comfort.” 

America’s Federal Trade Commission is the 

organisation tasked with ensuring the privacy 

of its consumers but its task is hampered by 

the fact that it “can do only what Congress 

authorises it to do”. 

FTC assistant director for privacy and 

identity protection, Mark Eichorn, said in the 

article, “There’s no overarching legal 

privacy requirements at the federal level,” 

and added, “We talk in terms of 

recommendations and best practices.” While 

he declined to comment on Canon, he went 

also said, “Companies should limit data 

[collecting] to the kind of information they 

actually need to carry out the transaction.” 

Murphy contacted Canon for comment 

but received no reply. When he went on to 

read Canon’s privacy policy he discovered 

EMEA Printer Shipments, Market Data 

EMEA printer shipments on the rise 

A new report by CONTEXT indicates that unit shipments of printer hardware have increased to the EMEA region. 

According to CONTEXT, the European IT 

market analysis company, EMEA printer 

shipments “continued to improve in Q2 

2017 and registered an increase of 4 

percent percent year-on-year compared to 

a decline of 3 percent in Q2 2016”. 

Multifunction inkjet printers were found to 

be the driving force behind these sales. 

Sales to Western Europe account for 

nearly 70 percent of printer hardware 

shipments to the EMEA, which “mirrored 

the performance in the region as a whole”, 

in contrast to the 6 percent decline which 

occurred in the same quarter last year. 

The shipment of laser multifunction 

printers (MFPs) has undergone a growth of 

10 percent year-on-year and was thus 

“largely responsible for the overall 

increase.” 

Zivile Brazdziunaite, Imaging Market 

Analyst at CONTEXT, explained, “This was 

mainly due to shipments to Germany, 

France and the UK.” Sell-in of MFPs 

accounted for a 3 percent growth in France 

and there was “a double-digit increase in 

sell-in across all categories in Germany and 

Kathie Florshei 

that as well as taking the information 

voluntarily given by consumers it also uses a 

variety of other data collection technologies 

to obtain information people “most 

definitely are not offering.” This includes 

your “type of browser used, access times, 

address of the website that sent you, Internet 

Protocol address, unique device identifier, 

geolocation, and clickstream behaviour”. 

Florsheim finally resolved her own privacy 

dilemma by taking her used cartridge to a 

Staples store, which accepted it from her 

with only one question, in contrast to 

Canon’s detailed form, with Florsheim 

declaring, “I don’t want anyone to monetise 

my personal information.” 

the UK”. In Germany, laser hardware 

accounted for 12 percent of year-onyear 

growth while in the UK, the 

shipment of inkjet MFPs accounted for 

the increase. 

The MEA region “continues to 

outperform other regions with unit 

shipments increasing by 16percent, 

again following a double digit 

decline last year.” This increase 

as driven in particular by shipments 

to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, while 

printer hardware sell-in to Turkey rose by 5 

percent year-on-year, with the majority of 

the growth being down to inkjet MFPs. 

Unit shipments to the CEE have been on 

the decline, despite an increase in the sellin 

of inkjet technology, according to 

CONTEXT’s findings. 

26 THE RECYCLER • ISSUE 300 • NOVEMBER 2017 

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Wiggs of the Globe Staff

Trade magazine for the toner and inkjet remanufacturing industry ~ making waste work 

A thank you from us to 

celebrate our 300th Edition 

celebrate our 300th Edition 

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and quote 300th edition subscription. 

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ISSUE 



Feature 

Twenty-five years and 300 editions 

Stefanie asked me to write something for 

the 300th edition and to be honest; it was a 

little daunting, a bit like being asked to write 

your own epitaph. 

The idea for The Recycler started over an 

all-day breakfast in the summer of 1991. 

Steve Weedon and I were colleagues 

working for GBL, a UK based company that 

manufactured photocopier drums and was 

heavily into R&D developing OPC recoating 

technology. It was more than fifteen months 

after that all-day breakfast before the first 

issue of The Recycler was published in 

December 1992. I was running the 

remanufacturing business that had been 

spun out of GBL and Weedon had left GBL 

in the summer of 1992 and was looking for 

support to launch the magazine. 

I have had the publishing bug from childhood. I had a 

poem published when I was fourteen and I wrote and 

published an expat newsletter, “The Outlander” while 

working in the middle east. My boss at that time, 

complained about the cost of the photocopying, but I was 

more concerned about the censors catching up with me! So 

I was on board with the magazine and became one of the 

first supporters and advertisers. 

Why you might ask! Remanufacturing in the UK was 

growing at a pace and was already becoming competitive 

so I had spent more than an uncomfortable night or two 

sleeping in my slightly battered Ford Sierra car as I travelled 

around Europe knocking on doors to introduce myself and 

hopefully secure some business. It was a tough market. 

Europe was supposedly a common, or open market, but 

language issues aside, there was no Euro, and every 

country had its own currency, so apart from being a sales 

person, you had to be a currency expert. Shipping involved 

David Connett 

Creative Partner at Connett 

and Unland GbR 

a lot of documents and endless delays 

while imports and exports were held up in 

various customs somewhere. 

Selling remanufactured cartridges 

meant being a salesman, banker, tax (VAT) 

expert and shipper all important skills to 

remanufacture and sell some 

remanufactured CX/SX cartridges. I 

thought that a pan European trade 

magazine would help raise the profile of the 

industry and enable my company to reach 

more people without having to sleep in the 

back of my car. It certainly did that, the 

advert connected us with lots of new 

customers! 

Looking back at issue one, the adverts 

inside the magazine, Static Control features 

and is still with us and PPC supplies is still operating, but 

focuses mainly on the copier segment today. Googling 

Graphic Technologies Corporation gave me a link to an LA 

Time story from 1993 “A Newbury Park company that 

markets copier and printer supplies has been ordered by a 

federal court to stop using the Xerox Corp. trademark and 

traditional Xerox markings on its products and packages. 

The permanent injunction, issued last month in U.S. District 

Court in Los Angeles, prohibits Graphic Technologies Corp. 

and its president, Ira J. Seaver, from imitating Xerox 

packaging.” Sound familiar? 

Belgium-based, CF Technologies is still trading but has 

diversified into other areas. Accutone, a Florida-based toner 

manufacturer, was the forerunner of AQC which is now part 

of Malaysian-based Jadi Technology. 

R&R Europe - Art Diamonds trade show was first held in 

Frankfurt in 1993, and I remember the long drive from 

Hannover after ten days of CeBIT to spend another three 

days in Frankfurt. R&R moved to Brussels the next year 


“ 

The social media audience has grown as well, 

especially on Twitter and Facebook 

“ 

and stayed there until 1999 when 

REMAX was launched in Paris in 2000 

by The Recycler. 

Carbotek was the largest advertiser 

with a double page spread, and 

Saga International was selling ozone 

filters. Kentinental Engineering 

made laser printer cabinets and 

are still in business today. Rotby 

were promoting their “Super 

Amber Plus” OPC coatings and 

the back page was UK based 

“The Little Red Book Laser Supplies” 

offering toner, coloured toner drums and fusers and a 

whole lot more. 

The magazine took off and did very well, Weedon exited 

the magazine after a year or so to work for Static Control 

and by the mid-nineties, there were ten thousand plus 

active remanufacturers in Europe and North America 

remanufacturing around 300-400 cartridges a month. The 

new owners did well to grow the business, but they were 

going through a messy divorce (sound familiar?) and the 

magazine struggled for a couple of years and it was quietly 

put on the market. At the same time, I had been ill with heart 

attack number two and needed to find something a little less 

stressful to do. The opportunity came to switch from 

remanufacturing to running The Recycler and with some 

help from friends and industry supporters I took over The 

Recycler in 1997. 

Publishing in 1997 was very hands on writing copy, sub 

editing, producing camera ready copy, getting up in the 

middle of the night to visit the printer and check the wet 

proofs before giving the go ahead to print. Mailing was an 

“all hands on deck” activity stuffing magazines in 

envelopes, printing labels, inserting invoices and 

subscription renewals. Then bagging everything and 

overloading my poor Ford Sierra to take the mailing to the 

post office. 

Not long after I took over, I was invited to a publisher’s 

conference discussing digital publishing. There were thirtyfive 

of us at the conference and the consensus was 

that digital publishing wouldn’t catch on. Being the 

newest publisher at the conference, I didn’t feel qualified 

to comment, but I did register The Recycler domain a 

couple of months later and we launched The Recycler 

website in 1998. 

At the time, we used the website to support and promote 

the magazine, but in 2000 we launched the REMAX trade 

show in Paris and the website and email technology were 

invaluable in reaching the global remanufacturing 

audience. Today the website is an online platform in its own 

right. The Recycler audience is global and the website 

ranks highly in the Alexa ranking and in over one hundred 

countries and serves an audience of around forty thousand. 


In recent years mobile is the new 

technology and about a quarter of our 

audience access our platform via mobile 

devices. Either the website directly or 

via our app. 

Trade shows are an equally important 

part of the news and information mix. 

Where else can you connect and 

network with an industry and finds new 

business? What has changed is how 

they are marketed. Gone are the 

marketing flyers, postcards and 

mailers. It’s now all engaging through 

micro sites, email, social and trade media. Or of course you 

can certainly spend your time in the car knocking on doors 

like we did in the old days! 

The social media audience has grown as well, especially on 

Twitter and Facebook, I think that reflects the entrepreneurial 

nature of the industry and the people in it. 

The audience is changing as well. On average twenty-six 

people sign up to The Recycler’s newsletters every week and 

at the same time about fifteen people a week change their 

email details or exit the industry. The audience has changed 

as well, mainly younger. Half the audience is now under forty 

and how they access the information has definitely changed. 

Fast forward to today and the printers and cartridges are 

different, but the people and issues are the same. The 

expansion of the EU has certainly opened up domestic 

markets and there are upwards of 5000 remanufacturers in 

Europe, some very big, but mostly small family run businesses 

processing 400-500 cartridges a month. 

Is the printed magazine dead? Not really, there is a demand 

for B2B magazines supporting niche market channels. The 

print edition is well received globally and subscriptions and 

circulation are stable in Europe and growing in other markets. 

Which reflects where the market is at the moment. The 

challenge is to remain relevant to the audience and publish 

quickly and efficiently across all platforms and always be 

adapting to new publishing techniques and strategies. 

Today The Recycler is in the capable hands of Stefanie 

Unland and her team. Stefanie has been involved with The 

Recycler since 2006 and for the last two years has been its 

editor and publisher. If you didn’t notice that is down to her 

expertise. Will The Recycler be here in another twenty-five 

years and three hundred issues? Nobody knows, but for as 

long as it is needed and supported the plan is to keep on 

publishing The Recycler. 

What am I doing know? I am still around, but focusing on 

our consulting work because the aftermarket is an 

entrepreneurially driven one and is always challenging for 

the largest possible share of OEM market and does this 

by delivering excellent service and value for money 

for customers. 

And I just love the buzz… 

R 

29

• 



ISSUE 



Feature 

The following story took place in 

2006 and is entirely true! 

Horst Edelmeier remembers the first REMAX held in Barcelona. 

As has always happened, in the 10+ 

years since the REMAX fair first started it 

was being held at the beginning of April. 

On Monday, April 3rd, I flew with my coworkers 

to the beautiful city Barcelona in 

preparation for the event. 

Barcelona is always worth a visit, 

although the unfortunate reality of such 

occasions is, that you never have time to 

explore the town and its surrounding. The 

schedule runs as follows: Airport – Hotel – 

acclimatizing a little – taking a trip to the 

fairground – finding everything – building 

up the booth – fair time – dismantling of 

the booth - return flight. That’s how it 

always went and how it will continue to go in the future. 

However, this time it has been a little different to say the 

least; in fact, I have a rather unusual story to relate. 

As I said we had flown to Barcelona on Monday, April 3rd 

and on Tuesday 4th we built up our booth. The fair itself was 

taking place from Wednesday 5th through Friday 7th April. 

However our new home in Essen town was ready and the 

moving day was fixed for Thursday, April 6th. Because of 

that moving date, which could not be changed, I had to fly 

back to Duesseldorf on the evening of the first day of the 

fair, and the remaining days the booth had to be managed 

without me. 

You need to know (and all visitors of our various booths in 

Europe know this) that as a visitor you can always get a 

fresh German beer – a beer from the well-known Essen 

brewery Stauder – on our booths. That has been known to 

all our distribution partners, who bring us their customers; 

all customers, all suppliers (and indeed anyone who is 

thirsty) knows this. And so it happened again at this 

particular edition of the REMAX fair in Barcelona. 

On the first day of the event we had already served a 

substantial number of “Stauder-Pils” to all our visitors. The 

day was nearly finished and the time was approaching 

when I had to leave the fair and fly back to Germany for the 

removal process. 

On the way to the exit of the fairground I met some of the 

key people from Cartridge World Europe, USA and 

Australia, who had not yet visited us at our booth that day. 

They told me that they would come to our booth the next day 

and they asked me whether we still had this wonderful 

Horst Edelmeier 

German beer, which I could confirm with 

utter conviction. But I informed them that I 

would not be there the next day because I 

was on the way home, due to the moving, 

but that Carsten, my son, and other coworkers 

would be there and they would be 

warmly invited to have some beers with 

them, unfortunately without me. It looked 

like that everything was well and well 

organised, till….. 

…till I arrived home and my son Carsten 

called me, informing me that all our 

German beer was already served and we 

would not have any beer left for the 

Cartridge World guys the next day, and for 

all of the other guests to our booth on the remaining days of 

the fair. What can I do? – he asked me. No beer would be 

terrible, but it was not possible to buy any German beer in 

drums or bottles in Barcelona. He had phoned around and 

been informed that he could buy “San Miguel” or any other 

Spanish beer. And that would surely be better than no beer 

at all, he said. 

You need to know that Cartridge World at that time was 

our biggest global customer. And I personally had invited 

the Cartridge World managers for a “German beer” the next 

day at our booth. For me it looked like a terrible disgrace to 

invite somebody for a German beer and then, when he 

Siegfried Koch, Horst Edelmeier and Bryan Stokes 


“ 

It looked like that everything was well 

and well organised, till….. 

“ 

comes, the beer is gone. But we saw no alternative than to 

buy Spanish beer in Barcelona and to serve it on our booth. 

Either Spanish beer or no beer! 

But then I had an idea. A more or less idiotic idea… Why 

not bring beer to Barcelona? With a taxi driver! It was 

Wednesday, April 5th at around 6 pm, when I remembered 

a friend of mine who was at that time running a taxi company 

and who was, at that time, every day after work drinking in 

the pub of our sport club Tusem. I immediately drove to the 

club house and, as always, he was there. Without waiting 

too long I asked him: 

“Have you ever been to Barcelona?” 

“No” 

“Would you like to go?” 

“Why not. When?” 

“Now! Immediately!” 

“Not possible, I have already drunk three beers.” 

That wasn’t a viable argument to me. 

“You cannot drive alone all that distance anyway…. 

3,000 km return journey. So please ask a colleague to go 

with you.” 

A word and a blow. He called a colleague, who 

immediately agreed to drive with him to Barcelona. It was 

now 6.30 pm and the brewery was already closed. I don’t 

know whether this still exists, but at that time in cases of 

emergency you could go to the gatekeeper of the brewery 

and buy beer in drums or bottles for cash. And now the 

following happened: 

Horst Edelmeier at one of the first REMAX shows 


Horst at one of the first CW meetings 

The taxi driver went home to take some things for the long 

trip. His colleague did the same. 

I myself went to the nearest bank and the cash machine 

there and took out some money. I don’t remember how 

much money I withdrew but in any case it was enough to 

buy three drums of Stauder beer from the gatekeeper and 

to give some money in advance to the two drivers for the 

long trip. 

After I got the money I phoned the gatekeeper and 

ordered three drums with 50 ltrs each of Stauder beer to be 

picked up in 30 mins. My friend and his colleague turned 

up, I gave them the money and informed them that they now 

had to drive to the brewery to take the three drums and that 

they then should iImmediately drive from the brewery to 

Barcelona. They duly collected the drums and immediately 

commenced the trip. It was now 8 pm. 

I then phoned Carsten in Barcelona, who on the one hand 

declared that I was crazy but on the other hand was happy 

about the fact that they would have beer again the next day. 

The impossible then became reality. Thursday morning at 

9.00 am the two drivers arrived at the fair ground in 

Barcelona. The drums were unloaded and at precisely 

10.00 am, when the fair opened, we again had German 

draught beer at our booth and we could continue to serve 

Essen Stauder beer to our international guests, especially to 

the managers of Cartridge World. Nobody mentioned the 

origins of our beer and we – of course – never said a word 

to anybody about how it appeared. 

The two drivers drove back immediately after delivery as 

they had not taken a hotel in Barcelona. On the evening of 

that Thursday they were back in the Club house for some 

beers, to celebrate the conclusion of their 3,000 km drive to 

Barcelona and back to Essen! 

R 

31

• 



ISSUE 



Feature 

300 issues and a reflection on 

the industry 

Will Roszczyk, former Deputy Editor of The Recycler, reflects on his time at the magazine and within the remanufacturing 

industry, and his views on the seven years he spent working in both. 

I worked for The Recycler for seven years, 

and my time at the magazine gave me a 

foundation to grow my skillset within editing, 

as well as giving me some remarkable and 

unforgettable experiences. As both David and 

Stefanie will tell you, my initial interview at the 

company entered Recycler folklore – I was 

unprepared for even a trainee journalist role, 

and quickly realised I was out of my depth, 

but in a piece to camera at the end of the day, 

my honesty about my experience was said to 

have shone through. 

I was invited back to another interview, and 

offered a commercial role (hands up who 

remembers dealing with me while I was 

Commercial Attaché!), which I excitingly 

accepted. It was at this point that I made another faux pas 

that’s passed into legend – on being asked how much I 

would like to earn (I was at that point working in retail for little 

money), I panicked and said £11,000 ($14,500/ €12,275) – a 

lowball figure that I have never been allowed to forget… 

From there, I gained commercial experience in creating 

contracts and liaising with people, before I started to gain 

more responsibility for creating commercial 

messages (promoting events and so on). And 

then came my baptism of fire – the day before 

Focus on Europe 2010 (in Barcelona, for 

those who can’t remember), I was asked if I’d 

like to report on the event. I was excited, 

nervous and terrified all at once as I boarded 

the flight… 

…but the experience was fantastic, and I 

still remember how pleased I felt that I’d been 

able to adapt to the situation and do a good 

job – particularly in interviewing and 

networking for one of the first times! The writeup 

of the report went well, and within a month 

or two I had been offered a Sub-Editor role 

ahead of my first of five trips to Frankfurt. 

After that show, the company began to 

change, and I was promoted to Associate 

Editor and then Deputy Editor within six 

months – and a few months after that, the 

UK office downsized and I was put in 

charge! 2011 was a whirlwind of change 

and learning new responsibilities, but the 

new format for the magazine settled down 

and worked a treat – and still works like a 

well-oiled machine even as I leave. 

The industry 

It’s been a recurring curiosity to me just 

how exactly I should explain the industry, 

and the magazine, to people I’ve met. 

Most are shocked that the industry exists, 

but I realised within a few days and weeks 

in 2010 just how vast, storied and 

distinctive it is. My experiences at events in Frankfurt, 

Barcelona, Lisbon and Dubai have shown me a group of 

people committed to an environmentally-focused business 

and market – something that remains strong and that the 

industry should be proud of. 

Will Roszczyk, former Deputy Editor 

of The Recycler 

We all know that there are many issues and themes that 

recur in cycles – whether it be the ever-present spectre of 

quality (or lack of for some), or the issues 

around IP, there are some that I feel some 

of you will still be discussing years down 

the line. However, I was struck by how 

many new challenges and opportunities 

arose during my time in remanufacturing, 

such as the fast development and initial 

falling-away of clones, or consolidation 

(and its sheer scale when it comes to 

OEMs and the aftermarket). 

It’s safe to say that the industry will likely 

be very different by the time The Recycler 

reaches 350 issues, let alone 400. As it 

matures, cartridge remanufacturing will be 

something I’m sure will persevere, in 

whatever form it takes, because the world 

(and my generation, the much-maligned 

millennials) is starting to slowly, but surely, 


“ 

I’m sure that in time cartridge remanufacturing 

will be looked to as a trailblazer 

“ 

• 


ISSUE 




understand the impact that our actions have had on the environment. 

If the industry can gain more attention, gain more respect and credibility, 

and hold that environmental core message to task rather than dismissing it 

for a quick buck, I’m sure that in time cartridge remanufacturing will be 

looked to as a trailblazer – an industry that was ahead of the environmental 

game, working hard against severe (and rich) opposition to carve out a 

profitable and notable niche. 

I enjoyed my time in the industry, had some unforgettable experiences 

and met and spoke to many interesting and diverse people from across the 

world. I wish The Recycler all the best as well, and hope that you all 

celebrated the milestones in Warsaw in June! Thanks for the memories! R 

Congratulations are in order to The 

Recycler for reaching such a huge 

milestone in publishing. As you 

celebrate 300 issues, Static Control is 

celebrating our 30th year of operation. 

We both have been here since the 

beginning of the industry, and have 

seen the many changes. From the 

infancy years of the industry, when 

‘drilling and filling’ was the standard, to 

the most recent advances in imaging 

technology - such as the replacement 

cartridges and components for the 

JetIntelligence series - we’ve been 

there. Static Control has enjoyed 

our journey together and looks 

forward to many years of continued 

success for The Recycler. R 


33

• 



ISSUE 



Feature 

In the beginning… 

or ‘Tales of the unexpected’ 

Anthony Critchley reflects on the early days of the The Recycler and REMAX. 

When I first joined The Recycler, I arrived 

whole complex. At this stage, I wondered 

on my first day at an old converted wool 

what on earth I had got myself into! 

barn situated alongside a weir on the river 

My first day was spent just getting my 

Windrush in Crawley, just outside Witney. 

workstation organised, cleaned and tidied 

Upon entering, it was just like going into a 

up. I also got a chance to get to know my 

cold, dark, damp cave. Two people were 

fellow cave dwellers. The guy in the corner 

huddled over computers beavering away at 

was Alan, the editor who I knew from my 

their work. 

newspaper days. He was a grumpy sod 

I introduced myself and although they 

back then, and it seemed he hadn’t 

were surprised at my arrival they directed 

changed. 

me to a rickety flight of stairs which I 

The other person was a young lady, who 

ascended with great caution. There I was 

was the designer. Around her chair on the 

greeted by the publisher’s gate keeper, 

floor were clumps of hair, which I later 

who was a stern looking lady who was also 

learned was the result of pulling her hair out 

surprised at my arrival. 

Tony Critchley, The Recycler’s 

every so often for no reason whatsoever. 

By now I was somewhat concerned but 

Publishing Consultant 

At the end of the day David appeared with 

retained my composure. Then a door flung 

a pile of magazines, dumped them on my 

open and David Connett appeared, looking like a character now-tidy desk and asked if I would read through them and 

from the Pickwick Papers. He greeted me warmly and come up with an action plan by the end of the week. By now 

ushered me into his office. Despite the creaking boards I was I had resigned myself to becoming a caveman and set off 

glad someone was expecting me. After moving a huge pile of home wondering if I would ever return. 

files, I was invited to sit down. The gatekeeper, who was I arrived at the offices the next day, which was bright and 

hovering curiously at the door, asked if I would like a coffee. sunny, and entered the cave which was now to be my 

A big mistake, as I subsequently found out. 

workplace. 

David then informed me it was his rule of thumb not to tell It was dark and I found myself alone, as I have always been 

the staff of new arrivals, just in case they didn’t turn up. He an early starter. David shouted his morning greeting down the 

explained that he was creating a new role for me, setting up a stairs, then informed me to be ready for the nine o’clock 

new publication dedicated to recycling in general rather than briefing. At that moment the door burst open and a bright 

specifically toner and inkjet remanufacturing. 

young lady entered, who bore a striking resemblance to Sofia 

It all seemed a bit vague but he outlined the aims of the Loren. She bounded up to me and introduced herself as the 

publication, which was to be educating local authorities on the commercial manager of The Recycler. 

benefits of recycling in general, as well as highlighting the Geraldine (for that was her name) clearly knew - unlike 

various machinery required. 

anyone else - that I was coming and she was determined to 

At this stage, the gatekeeper appeared with a mug of socalled 

coffee. I have to say it was the worst coffee I have ever the friendliest person I had met so far, and also by far the most 

make it clear that she was top dog. I didn’t mind, as she was 

tasted, seeming more like a cup of broth collected from the attractive. Grumpy Alan arrived shortly afterwards, followed 

river outside. 

by the hair puller. They all set about making coffee for 

Before I had a chance to try and drink it we went downstairs themselves but I had the foresight to bring a flask, having 

to the cave again, where I was shown where I would be tasted the noxious brew yesterday. 

situated. Having come from a bright air-conditioned office you At five to nine we all sat about waiting for the briefing. I 

can imagine my horror when I was shown a small desk in the learned that this was a sort of ritual David carried out every 

corner, facing the wall. 

working day. Geraldine and the gatekeeper came down the 

It appeared to be a dumping ground for any old stuff not in stairs and sat down, awaiting David’s arrival. 

use and the chair looked like a reject from a torture chamber. Bang on nine o’clock he made his grand entrance by 

David then took me outside and pointed out a small building skipping down the stairs with a jolly greeting. Now the object of 

some 50 meters away, which was the communal toilet for the the meeting was to see what everyone had planned for the day. 


FEATURE: In the beginning…or ‘Tales of the unexpected’ 

Not sure what to say, I said I would be 

conducting research on the prospects for 

the new publication. David listened 

intently, making notes. When everyone 

had said their bit, there was a long silent 

pause. Then David set about telling 

everyone what he or she was doing, and 

it was completely different to what we all 

had planned. Over time I was to learn that 

this was usual and the word of the boss 

was final. We all suffered a long 

monologue on deadlines and targets, 

plus the importance of positive thinking. 

After about half an hour we were then left 

to put into practice the instructions we had received. 

David left, together with the gatekeeper and Geraldine, 

ascending to the luxury offices above, and leaving Alan to 

moan and be even more grumpy than usual and the hair puller 

to turn without comment to her computer screen, plugging in 

her earphones to listen to music. 

Over the ensuing months this routine continued. The 

weather however was becoming decidedly chilly with the 

onset of winter, and the cave became a cold and damp place 

to work. Some days during the winter months we, the cave 

dwellers, resorted to wearing our coats all day. These were the 

days before health and safety We did have a faulty night 

storage heater, which only seemed to work when it felt like it. 

Over the winter months we got the new publication up and 

running much to the annoyance of Alan, who felt it was not his 

job to edit two publications. Naturally the main emphasis was 

on The Recycler magazine and around deadline there was an 

air of panic and many spates of ill temper. At times the trek to 

the toilets across the yard was an effort, and we batted the 

elements to even get there. David always said that this was all 

“character building”, a phrase he often used to quell any 

discontent. 

Having survived the winter (God knows how) we moved into 

spring with much talk of David and Geraldine’s visit to Paris to 

the industry show. It would seem the show was struggling 

somewhat to attract visitors and David was keen to see if there 

was a commercial opportunity there. Other activities continued 

as usual and my publication was beginning to become 

established. My main source of business was the heavy 

machinery and equipment needed to recycle waste products, 

which was something I hadn’t a clue about, but I didn’t tell 

David this. Anyway, advertising was slowly building up. 

With the arrival of spring we were all unexpectedly 

summoned to a mid afternoon meeting to be informed we were 

moving offices, I just hoped it wouldn’t be to another cave. It 

transpired we were moving to bigger premises in Witney, 

called Spinners Court. We were then taken to the new offices 

(well, not new, but better), to see what we thought. The offices 

were light and airy with plenty of space - moving there was like 

being released from prison. David would still have a separate 

office upstairs and everyone else would be under one roof in 

an open plan office. 

Life at Spinners Court 

The move was another one of 

David’s character building 

exercises. No removal people – just 

us, humping and bumping 

everything into hired vans and 

running backwards and forwards for 

two days (one of which was on a 

weekend!). By this time Alan had 

decided that he was to move on to 

take up a post in a travel company, 

dealing with their publicity, so we 

had a new editor. Although he was a 

grumpy old thing, over the time I had 

got to respect Alan’s professionalism as an editor and writer 

so I, for one, was sad to see him go. 

Enter his replacement - Steve Hay. In complete contrast to 

Alan, Steve was a lively young Scot who still felt he was a bit 

of a hippy as well as being a keen anthologist. He brought a 

breath of fresh air to our new premises. Although I knew we 

would get on well, Geraldine took an instant dislike to him, as 

did the gatekeeper, who was now situated in our open-plan 

office watching our every move. My working relationship and 

friendship with Steve went some way to making The Recycler 

what it is today. 

David and Geraldine went to Paris and found it so quiet that 

the exhibitors were playing football in the gangways. Many of 

the exhibitors said they would not do another one. 

Now, not many people know this, but David often sees 

opportunities in things that others would steer clear of and 

true to form, he decided to buy the rights of the exhibition and 

renamed it REMAX. This excited me but others thought it 

was folly. 

Around this time Geraldine decided to move on to another 

position. I was sorry to see her go, but it transpired she had 

been made an offer she couldn’t refuse. 

Now the mantle of commercial manager for The Recycler 

fell to me, together with the development of REMAX. I love 

challenges and this was going to be a very important stage in 

the development of The Recycler and REMAX. 

My top priority was to increase revenue so, as well as 

introducing myself to existing and European customers, I 

planned to tackle the American market, which at that time was 

big. I tackled the Recharger Magazine (now defunct) with a 

vengeance and managed to attract a number of new 

advertisers by working late at night due to the time difference. 

At the same time both David and I were working furiously, 

promoting the new trade exhibition REMAX, and trying to 

convince potential exhibitors that it would be very different. 

We managed to attract a good number of people and a plan 

started to come together. The magazine was growing and the 

exhibition was taking shape. 

Amidst all this we were planning a trip to World Expo in 

Vegas. When I say ‘we’, David was managing the trip (if only 

had I known). 

R 


FEATURE: In the beginning…or ‘Tales of the unexpected’ 

We went to Vegas on the most economically-priced flights 

we could find, which meant us arriving at our destination 

looking like a couple of cripples. We found our hotel and 

prepared for the show ahead. 

We both worked the floor from morning to night, ending up 

each evening in the Splash bar (so called because the 

barmen splashed your drinks at you). It was a great meeting 

place and we did a lot of business there. Over the next two 

years it became famous as being the ‘in’ place to be. We ate 

on a budget, dining at off-strip Mexican dives and getting 

invited to evening receptions. Budgets at that time were tight 

as we were investing heavily in the development of REMAX. 

When it came to the last day we discovered we didn’t have a 

hotel room for the night, due to an error in dates so there was 

nothing for it but to spend the whole night at the Slash bar. As 

it happened this turned out quite well as everyone had 

planned a late night, so we had a great time. As a result, 

weary, and far from being sober, we made our way back to 

the UK with a bag full of orders and a very bad headache. 

No getting over jet lag on our return, oh no - back to work 

straight away (character building, don’t you know…). 

I struggled through, entering the many sales orders we had 

received over the rest of the week, and eventually enjoyed a 

very sleepy weekend recovering. 

Over the next few months we spent a lot of time getting all 

the floor plans for REMAX together and selling the remaining 

booths to some reluctant customers. Although we didn’t 

realise it at the time, this was all a very big gamble and if it 

failed we would be in desperate straits. 

The magazine developed well over this period and Steve 

the editor was managing to keep up with the higher demand 

for editorial. The design side was taken over by a nice fellow 

called Ian and, although dyslexic, he managed to deliver the 

goods. He worked freelance but, although busy, managed to 

meet all the demands we placed upon him. I can’t remember 

what happened to Hair Puller. 

As we moved into the New Year, REMAX drew nearer and 

final plans were being laid for the exhibition. I have to say, we 

were all very apprehensive as to how it would pan out. I 

managed to recruit my wife to come as an unpaid helper and 

co-driver if needed, to which she reluctantly agreed. We had 

a mass of exhibition material and only two cars, both estates, 

to take the gear in. We both bought roof racks should we need 

it - which we did. 

The first REMAX adventure 

Cars loaded to the gunnels, it was a waggon roll to Paris. We 

wondered what to expect. Would any visitors come? What 

would the exhibitors think? Will they bring the footballs just in 

case? All these thoughts passed through our minds as we 

drove our heavily filled cars along the motorways to Paris. It 

was a very tense time. 

Having arrived in one piece we viewed the venue, which 

looked fantastic, and set about the character-building task of 

unloading everything from the basement and transferring it to 

the fifth floor. It was a struggle but we did it. We were ready 

for the exhibitors to set up the next day. 

The exhibitors started to arrive in dribs and drabs until mid 

morning, by which time the whole place was a hive of activity. 

In the meantime, as one of David’s character building 

exercises, my wife, Steve and I were stuffing leaflets into a 

large number of visitor bags. It seemed to take forever but we 

finished it in time for lunch, which consisted of a choice of 

cheese and tomato or tomato and cheese baguettes. By mid 

afternoon things were looking really good with not a football in 

sight. We crossed our fingers that the visitors would come. 

Having eaten out, in what can only be described as an 

economy restaurant, we all retired to bed with strict 

instructions to be on parade at 7 am the next day. 

The next day at the duly appointed time we all gathered for 

our last minute instructions. Although I don’t think Steve knew 

what 7am was, as he was conspicuously absent. I was 

dispatched to get him out of bed by a very red faced David 

who seemed to be about to bust a blood vessel. After about 5 

minutes a very meek looking Steve appeared and the briefing 

commenced. It would seem my wife was to be the meet and 

greet specialist along with myself, David was to roam the floor 

picking up on products and industry news, and Steve was in 

charge of taking photographs. The doors opened at nine and 

we were inundated with visitors, not only from Europe but to 

my amazement America as well (the Splash effect). 

At this show we introduced the Gala Dinner, which proved 

to be a big hit and remained so for several years to come. The 

show was a resounding success for visitors and exhibitors 

alike. There was only one blip (not of our making) when a 

ceiling collapsed on one booth due to torrential overnight rain 

- nobody was hurt, thank goodness. 

We all breathed a sight of relief when the show was over. 

Exhausted and with all exhibitors already booked for next year 

we knew this was the start of something big. The magazine 

carried on going from strength to strength and we knew we 

were entering a very special time in the company’s 

development. 

Next time… How we beat the Recharger at their own 

game, and so much more. 

R 


• 



ISSUE 



Feature 

The Recycler: A solid rock in high seas 

Vincent van Dijk, Secretary General ETIRA (European Toner & Inkjet Remanufacturing Association). 

I first became aware about The Recycler in 

2002, at the same time as I learnt about the 

industry. Back then, I was working at a 

Brussels-based public affairs consultancy, 

and the then editor-in-chief, David Connett, 

AKA “Mr Remanufactured Cartridges”, 

approached us to do some lobby work for 

the industry. All across Europe, 

remanufacturers were being sued by OEMs 

for alleged patent infringement, and David 

saw the need to involve EU and national 

regulators to help the industry. 

In order to do that, he mobilized a group of 

visionary remanufacturers and their 

suppliers, all of whom chipped in to fund the work. He even 

succeeded in institutionalizing the group and giving it a 

sound financial base, by creating a vehicle to represent the 

industry as a whole: Enter ETIRA, which since 2003 is the 

trade association of European cartridge remanufacturers 

and their partners. Naturally, the medium that ETIRA used to 

reach the industry was The Recycler magazine. 

Of course, the industry was different back then. In 

Europe, remanufacturing cartridges started in the 1990s, 

and by the early 2000s had become a very profitable 

business for many players. The average remanufacturer 

had double-digit percentage profits, and many 

companies were able to double or triple their 

turnover year after year. As it happens, that is 

when I came to this industry - so of course I 

was happy to be part of such a successful 

group! 

Remanufacturers worldwide were reading 

The Recycler to learn about the European 

market, and to get instructions on how to 

remanufacture particular cartridge models. 

Yet more than this, The Recycler was also 

instrumental in bringing industry members 

together. The clearest example of such successful 

face-to-face contacts were the great trade shows they 

organized - many of us recall the REMAX trade shows in 

Paris, Barcelona, Dusseldorf, and elsewhere. They were 

famous fora for meeting both old and new ‘bizz’ partners, and 

often they were great fun too. I happily remember the 

500+ delegate dinners in the wine cellar-turned-restaurant 

just outside Barcelona. I still smile when I think of the singers 

on the showfloor, and I reveled at the great ‘after-hours’ 

parties on the booths of the major remanufacturing 

companies, parts suppliers, etc. It was David Connett and his 

team at The Recycler who were always at the heart of things: 

Vincent van Dijk, Secretary 

General ETIRA 

it was their show that facilitated all of this. 

In later years, the industry matured. As 

more new players entered the market, and 

OEMs became even more aggressive 

against remanufacturers, the market 

changed. Cheap, patent-infringing products 

from Southeast Asia flooded the market, and 

due to the rise of the internet, end-users 

began to print less and less. Resultantly, the 

double-digit profits came down to more 

normal levels, and revenue growth was no 

longer automatic. As the industry changed, 

the magazine had to change with it; it 

became more ‘down to earth’, with fewer 

singers and big parties at REMAX. Covering a wider 

spectrum of industry members, the trade shows became 

less exuberant, and had more non-European exhibitors, 

although they remained efficient and useful platforms. As 

usual, The Recycler team and magazine were in the midst 

of it all, and were reporting about it. They would have 

pictures of products, alongside stories of German customs 

officials on the show floor, looking for patent-infringing, 

newbuilt, non-OEM cartridges… 

The last few years have seen a major industry 

concentration push. Tougher market conditions have 

forced the European industry to work closer together, 

and major companies from SE Asia which used 

to only sell products here, are now also 

buying: Not products, but whole companies 

in the cartridge remanufacturing industry - 

one even bought a printer manufacturer. At 

the same time, we are witnessing OEMs 

who are desperately fighting to maintain 

profit and marketshare in a contracting 

market. 

The Recycler magazine, like ETIRA, will 

have to adjust to this new environment. But we 

can, and will. Even in a globalizing business 

environment, cartridge reuse has a place under the sun. 

End-users are increasingly aware of the environmental 

characteristics of the products they buy, and will therefore 

choose our products. We continue to need this magazine to 

tell the world about that. 

The Recycler magazine is now at its 300th edition. It has 

shown clearly that it can withstand the pressure of constant 

change. Its paper pages may bend under the strong winds 

of change, but they will not tear off, because the magazine 

base is set in solid rock. The team behind the magazine, 

then and now, deserves a big compliment for that. R 


• 



ISSUE 



I started in this industry back 

ISSUE 

in 1987, teaming up with my 

old boss from an electronic 

test equipment company. He had started a new venture called 

Chenesko Products, selling test equipment and electronic breadboards to 

schools. He was in need of help, and I was looking for a new job, so we teamed 

up. We were printing our own catalogues on an early CX engine-based laser, and 

the cartridges were very expensive, until we found a copier dealer in New Jersey 

selling Canon copier toner that worked (not well, but it printed…) 

We soon started buying the toner in bulk and creating ‘drill and fill’ kits. We 

developed a relationship with a toner manufacturer who could make dedicated 

toners, and we started a ‘Business In A Box’ concept, where we trained dealers 

to take the cartridges apart, clean, and refill them. From there, the business grew, 

and the electronics department was swiftly abandoned… 

I began writing ‘How To’ cartridge instructions back in 1989, initially for our 

high-tech ‘Fax On Demand’ system, and for the most part, I have never stopped. 

I’ve currently written over 430 instructions/articles, am one of the original 

STMC/ASTM trainers, and have assisted and trained companies across the world. 

After a few years, Chenesko Products was sold, and became Summit Laser, 

which then purchased Graphic Technologies to become Summit Technologies. In 

2007, we were purchased by Uninet, and have been Uninet ever since. R 

Mike Josiah, Uninet 

• 






“Looking back, I, like many, can recall using 

a very messy duplicator to ‘print’ pages, and 

when colour copiers first arrived they were 

using photographic chemistry. Back then, 

environmental responsibility was just a 

distant dream. But, like the market for colour 

pages and copies, demand has driven 

change. 

Reuse and remanufacturing, like recycling, 

is following a similar path. In time, reusing a 

remanufactured product will inevitably 

become the norm. We are slowly starting to 

appreciate that the Earth’s resources are 

finite, and as a result attitudes towards reuse 

and remanufacturing are changing. There 

remains much to do, but change only 

happens with continued focus on the goal. It 

may not always seem like it today, but as time 

goes on, I am convinced it’s inevitable.” R 

• 


ISSUE 



41

• 



ISSUE 



Feature 

Stranger in a strange land 

Reminiscences of Laura Heywood, MD of Kleen Strike (UK) and UKCRA Secretary on her years in the UK . 

Moving to Northwest England from San 

Francisco in 1978 was a huge culture shock for 

me and not only because of the difference in 

language. Just remembering what to call things 

- eggplant/aubergine, zucchini/ courgette, 

sidewalk/ pavement, gas/petrol, leash/lead/etc. 

was a challenge. After my first time at the 

butcher’s, where a roast was called a joint 

(really?), and a cow’s head lay on the counter 

with the butcher cutting off slices of cheek, I 

knew for sure that I was in a foreign country. 

Even driving around was a problem for a 

while; I felt seasick from the curvy roads after 

being used to the streets in the States, which are straight. I 

shipped my AMC Pacer (of Wayne’s World fame) as part of 

my belongings and it needed modifying to take high octane 

petrol – it used only unleaded petrol. It was another few years 

before the UK introduced unleaded petrol. 

Five years later, wanting to start a business, I approached 

my father of Kleen Strike Inc. in Baltimore, Maryland to help 

me form Kleen Strike UK. Having worked in the office 

supplies sector selling typewriter ribbon spools, in 1960 he 

formed his own company. He suggested that Don, my 

partner, and I offer a ribbon cartridge reloading (refilling) 

service at first, to gain knowledge of the different ribbon 

cassettes on the market. He sent us surplus equipment and 

introduced us to his German and UK suppliers. 

We opened our doors in June 1983 with a small loan from 

an Irish bank (after being refused by English banks) that was 

willing to take a chance on a new Company that felt the 

concept of reuse was a good idea. We bought the latest 

computer- the Amstrad – some will remember it! - with the 

start of the day disk - and a little matrix printer and ordered 

printed invoices. 

Laura Heywood, MD of 

Kleen Strike (UK) 

Now we had to do our research to see if the 

same ribbon cassettes that were popular in 

the States were the same in the UK and in a 

matter of weeks picked up our first major 

customer – a major chain store with over 500 

sites UK-wide. We reloaded as well as 

supplied them with new compatible ribbon 

cassettes for their point of sale (POS) printers, 

charging 75 percent less than what they were 

paying. 

When the company that supplied their 

maintenance and printer ribbons saw their 

orders dry up, every time an engineer was 

called out to a POS printer they blamed the Kleen Strike 

ribbon. The callouts had not increased, only the engineer’s 

reason for the problem. So, taking things into his own hands, 

the buyer (in front of witnesses) swapped the lids of an 

‘original’ that had the OEM’s name embossed on the lid and 

one of our cartridges with a plain lid and gave it to the OEM 

rep to do a comparison test on both. 

Two weeks later, the rep for the POS company met with the 

Store Buyer and – unknowingly - criticised unmercifully their 

own ribbon- saying it “yielded 5 million less characters before 

fading, ink dried out quicker, density of nylon inferior and 

shorter length, etc.” When the Buyer mentioned what he’d 

done, the rep was speechless and thereafter there were no 

more complaints lodged against our product. 

In the late 80’s when my father retired, Kleen Strike, Inc. 

was sold to their largest customer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

They were already remanufacturing toner cartridges but had 

many ribbon customers as well. It was agreed that Don 

Barker, my partner, and I would learn the toner 

remanufacturing process. Being in the UK we were no threat 

to them. At the time, the HPII toner cartridge had 85 percent 

Laura and Don in 1995 

The Kleenstrike Board of Directors 

Laura at the UK Parliament - with Dr. Gell 

and Dr Ijomah 


“ 

Over the years we never forgot that the most important 

possession that a company has is its employees 

“ 

of the market and the smaller HPIIP was just becoming 

popular. And we thought we were getting into this toner refilling 

too late? We learned the process, hired a newly retired British 

Aerospace engineer and with Don being an experienced 

engineer as well, we began offering remanufactured toners. 

There were no component suppliers in the UK and we had 

to order our drums and what little components were available 

at that time from the USA. It was all mono printers with the first 

early bubblejets and inkjets coming onto the market. 

It was a period of stability. There were very few printer 

manufacturers and the printers were expensive. Newer model 

printers were not released as often as they are today. 

There was also a sense of loyalty and trust between 

suppliers and customers. We have customers today that we 

have had for over 25 years. With time, you build up a strong 

relationship – even though their orders now may be sent via 

email or the website we still call for a chat like friends do. 

It’s harder today than ever before with the OEMs 

offering printer contract services that include all consumables. 

Even with a comparison study that was published (and never 

challenged) that demonstrated that owning your printer base 

and using remanufactured cartridges can save over £50,000 

($65,900/ €55,800) over 5 years for a 500 employee or student 

facility vs. managed print service (cost per page). 

Until large Corporations, Government sectors and Councils 

specify that a certain percentage of their tenders include 

remanufactured products, or specify that, should they opt for 

a printer service contract, that only remanufactured toners be 

supplied – then more and more jobs will be lost. Self 

sustainability and the circular economy is becoming a big 

issue but too many times price is the determining factor in a 

sale or contract. We lost a Council tender where 70 percent 

of the score was price. 

When an imported toner cartridge can cost less than 

purchasing an empty, where is the choice? Many 

remanufacturers today purchase a portion of these products 

rather than lose the sale. 

Over the years we never forgot that the most important 

possession that a company has is its employees; many have 

been with us 15 years and more. And two years ago, we 

hired a graduate from a special needs school after 

hearing about their fantastic program in preparing them for 

entering the working community. It is vital to keep that 

passion, pride, dedication and humour and this has been 

noticed and admired by Mayors, MP’s and local Council 

leaders. 

The remanufacturing industry is volatile right now with 

customers unable to have a choice of product because of 

printer manufacturers making it more and more difficult to 

compete but we will be ready to take on whatever the next 

challenge is, just as we have for the past 35 years. R 


43

• 



ISSUE 



Feature 

IR Italiana Riprografia 25 years 

in the industry 

Founded in 1992, IR Italiana Riprografia has a rich 

history. It was initially part of the Franchini group of 

companies that owned subsidiaries in France, 

Spain and Portugal. The Franchini Group was 

established in Italy in 1979 by Dr. Alfonso Franchini, 

and became itself part of the Olivetti Group between 

1986 and 1989. In 1989, the Franchini family bought 

the shares back from Olivetti, before then selling 

51% of them to the Tepro Group of companies, 

which had subsidiaries in Germany (Tepro Gmbh), 

Holland and Sweden. When, in 1994, the Tepro 

Group was sold to Katun USA, Italiana Riprografia 

remained with the Franchini family. 

Since then, IR has been developing constantly, and it is 

now one of the European leaders in the manufacturing and 

distribution of office products and machines, thanks to 

expertise gathered over 40 years of market experience. IR 

distributes through direct subsidiaries in Italy, Spain, Portugal 

and Germany, and, through its distributors, also covers the 

rest of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. 

With a catalogue offering more than 12,000 items, IR 

Italiana Riprografia offers a response to every possible need. 

Its range includes original, compatible and remanufactured 

products of all brands and products type, and the entire 

catalogue is permanently accessible online. IR’s website 

enables one to check the availability of any product, as well 

as view the order history, and to track the delivery details of 

any shipment. 

At the heart of the company is the IR warehouse, stocking 

over 90 perecent of all goods in the catalogue, and using a 

double optical barcode control system, designed to ensure 

maximum delivery speed and eliminate the risk of error. 

IR Italiana Riprografia operates both as a distributor for the 

most important brands, and as a producer of compatible and 

remanufactured consumables which are distributed either 

under the Graphic-jet brand name or, in neutral packaging. 

IR is strictly focused on the quality of its production lines: 

The filling of toner cartridges for photocopiers, and the 

remanufacturing of laser cartridges. The high quality of all 

these items is guaranteed by constant and rigorous controls, 

and by selecting the most professional and reliable suppliers. 

IR boasts the most important certifications (ISO 9001:2008 

for quality management, ISO 14001:2004 for environmental 

management and BS OHSAS 18001:2007 for managing 

health and safety at work), assuring the highest level of 

quality of products and services offered to the customer. IR 

has also verified and validated its own refurbishing 

processes, which were declared to be in compliance with the 

standards of ISO 14021:2016 by the certifying body. 

Moreover, IR can provide Safety Data Sheets (SDS), which 

are in conformity with the European REACH regulation, for all 

of its products in Italian and in the other EU languages. 

In conclusion, we can say that the strength of IR Italiana 

Riprografia is rooted in its ability to renew itself along the 

years, in the fast-moving, competitive market. 

R 



Printing Images CtC, Inc. was founded in 1992 

by Norbert and Susan Grimm, two pioneers of the 

remanufacturing industry. Originally, PiCtC began to 

specialize on the development and manufacturing of 

compatible inkjet inks for various OEM brands. 

In 1995, PiCtC relocated from New Jersey to Subic 

Bay, in the Philippines, and began setting up its first 

production line for remanufactured inkjet cartridges. In 

the years since, PiCtC has gained extensive 

remanufacturing experience, and has sold over fifteen 

million high quality Remanufactured Inkjet cartridges to 

distributors worldwide. 

With a team of dynamic, dedicated professionals, we 

continue to provide our customers with quality, and with 

‘total satisfaction’ oriented customer service. PiCtC 

takes pride in its achievements and welcomes inquiries 

from companies wishing to work together with us. R 

• 


ISSUE 



• 



ISSUE 



Feature 

Nubeprint - MPS is our mission 

When Nubeprint first came on 

board in 2010, we already had 10 

years of market experience. Back 

in 2000, the founders of 

Nubeprint developed and 

patented the first-ever data 

collection agent. As a result, 

when we started, we knew the 

state of this industry and how its 

inefficiencies can hurt its 

competitiveness through an 

obsolete distribution model. 

The successful merging of 

copiers and printers, from a 

technological viewpoint, also 

contributed to the shift towards a 

selling model based on cost per 

page: Everyone wanted to 

replicate the copier dealer’s 

business proposal. In parallel, the copier dealers, 

who never previously paid attention to controlling the toner 

being shipped, realised that toner, and other supplies, were 

critical from a cost perspective, if they wanted to keep their 

profitability. 

Nubeprint saw the opportunity to facilitate the deployment 

of cost-per-page contracts, whilst keeping the focus on 

costs. In these contracts, the user has no incentive to control 

how they use the cartridges; they pay for pages. On the other 

hand, the dealer who buys the cartridges has no physical 

contact with the printer. Therefore, with the cartridge being 

the main source of revenue for manufacturers, if the business 

had to be managed remotely, it was clear to us that the 

industry needed to shift their back office into the automation 

and control of the delivery, and usage of supplies. Other 

industries had done it before and succeeded, following lean 

management guidelines. 

But for various reasons, this industry is especially difficult. 

The printer or copier is similar to small ‘factory’, on its own. 

The raw materials are toner, drum, fuser, paper, and data; the 

output is the printed document. What makes it difficult to 

control is that there is no single controller – there are multiple 

users, who only care for printing. If someone is in charge of 

ordering the supplies, they are either remotely located (in 

another department) or they have no cost responsibilities. 

The problems of measuring, controlling, and reducing the 

costs of the printer and copier resources had to be 

addressed from multiple sides: 

To measure, Nubeprint developed and patented the 

market’s first ever DCA, which was then followed by 

developing the first DCA to be multiplatform and 

maintenance-free. 

To solve the control 

problem, Nubeprint 

designed and developed 

this industry’s first AI 

engine, allowing us to 

manage a twenty-year-old 

HP printer, a 2017 HP 

printer, a Xerox copier, 

and a Kyocera MFP 

simultaneously, without 

needing to be an expert on 

the different yield of each 

cartridge, or which SKU 

each one runs. 

In terms of cost 

minimisation, state of the 

art automation in the 

Nubeprint system takes full 

ownership of cartridge 

replenishment tasks, as well as controlling times and 

identifying inefficiencies. Consequently, the system operator 

can focus on solving behavioural issues, such as identifying 

SKUs with a performance inferior to the published yield. 

At Nubeprint, we are proud to be the only tool in the 

industry 100 percent focused on reducing cost. This brings 

with it several benefits; most importantly for us, the positive 

environmental impact, as we help the dealer and 

manufacturer to collect the empties. We also contribute to the 

reduction in toner consumption by 30 percent. Besides this, 

we are increasing the added human value: A system operator 

using Nubeprint plays an important role, identifying which 

cartridge SKUs perform well, which printer and copier 

models are the most profitable, and how a contract must be 

amended to make it profitable. 

A further benefit is the rationalisation of the production 

capacity. Nubeprint makes it possible to move from a 

transactional business model, through which someone 

acquires and owns the printer without too much 

consideration of their needs, into a service model based on 

usage. 

At Nubeprint’s heart is the technology applied to state-ofthe-art 

procedures. As such, we continue to discover new 

opportunities to improve the way our customers manage their 

resources. Medium-term, we foresee that all new printer sales 

will be under a ‘per usage’ scheme, with full automation of 

replenishment, and with the flexibility to adapt to the 

changing needs of every user. The industry will merge again, 

with other vertical industries and through new devices like 3D 

printing, and these too will feel the benefits of what we are 

currently achieving in terms of process automation. R 


• 



ISSUE 



Feature 

wta Carsten Weser 20 years in 

remanufacturing 

Like a lot of remanufacturers and an OEM or two, wta Carsten 

Weser GmbH (wta) started out twenty years ago in Suhl, 

Germany, from a barn that is still in use by the company 

today. From those early beginnings, the company has grown 

to be one of the leading brands in the German domestic 

market and is now exporting within the EU market. 

Wta is owned and managed by Carsten Weser and 

employs more than 130 staff at its Suhl and Köthen locations. 

Head office is located in the German town of Suhl in the 

heart of the Thuringian Forest and a popular destination for 

hikers. According to Weser "we feel a connection to our 

homeland, and it is important for us to manufacture all our 

products here. For us Made in Germany is not just a slogan 

but also a promise." 

The homeland connection and focus on the "Made in 

Germany" brand has made wta one of Suhl's larger 

employers and, if our taxi driver is right, more famous than the 

Simson Motor Works that occupied the site until wta relocated 

there in 2002. Petrol heads and motorbike enthusiasts may 

well recall the cars and motorcycles produced in the factory. 

The town even boasts a museum dedicated to the Simson 

cars and motorbikes. But when we asked for the Motorworks 

our taxi driver didn’t know where it was. Show her the wta 

business card, and she said "Ah, the Kartusche Werk" and a 

few minutes later we were there. 

So what makes wta one of Germany's leading cartridge 

remanufacturers? One word: Focus. 

Focus on the environment 

wta's core principle is to protect the environment and sees 

themselves as educators and influencers. There is a strong 

corporate commitment and focus to the conservation of the 

beauty and character of their homeland and ensuring its 

ongoing existence. Achieving this goal means that they 

will do their utmost in researching, sales, and production 

as well as in the commercial department to develop and 

manufacture environmentally friendly and re-built products 

and to deliver them to their customers taking the shortest 

possible route. 

wta knows and understands the contribution their rebuilt 

toner and inks, services and manufacturing processes 

towards sustainable development. wta's production and 

product development focuses on delivering the lowest 

possible environmental impacts during the entire product 

lifecycle. 

Utilising all the possible technical and corporate resources 

available wta does its utmost to disturb the environment and 

nature as little as possible through our actions. According to 

Weser "we do our part for the ecological future of our society, 

and through the multiple uses of plastics, we contribute to the 

preservation and reduced use of crude oil. We use 

particularly low consumption toner powder and long life Drum 

and hopper units so we can significantly improve the yield of 

our various products. We see ourselves as a modern 

industrial business with a service-orientated nature that starts 

with the collection and delivery of empty cartridges leading to 

the dispatch of the refilled toner and ink products and 

providing our customers with a continuous range of services." 

Focus on quality 

wta guarantee OEM quality at an exceptional price-service 

ratio. The wta skilled and committed specialists guarantee 

the consistently high quality of their toner cartridges, inks and 

all other products. Weser said "we test every single cartridge 

in a singular process and also the page yield of all recycled 

products to ensure that they meet the original specifications 

and often they have an even longer lifespan and page yield 

as well. 

Focus on development 

Right from the beginning wta invests in product development, 

improving and developing production facilities and the know- 


“ 

An ever-changing market drives a continuous technical 

development programme to improve production processes 

“ 

how of the wta staff to offer the best possible products at an 

excellent price-quality ratio. For all new products, wta 

guarantees a comparably short development time and they 

continuously work on the improving the product performance. 

Focus on clean air 

A significant part of wta toners are checked and certified and 

continuously analysed to ensure compliance with the 

required limits for cobalt, nickel, chromium VI, TVOC, as well 

as styrene and benzene and organostannic compounds. 

Emissions in the in-house test chamber are measured under 

the same conditions as the test specifications of the “Blue 

Angel” standard and certified by the TÜV Rheinland LGA 

Products GmbH (LGA) who have a long-term experience and 

have conducted extensive research in the field of toner 

analytics and device testing. If a toner meets all test 

parameters and conforms with the supervising contract with 

the LGA, the toner gets the certificate “LGA – non-toxic 

components”. 

Focus on sustainability 

wta continues to grow and the goal of the company it is to 

maintain their environmental balance and to improve 

wta production 

continuously wherever possible. An ever-changing market 

drives a continuous technical development programme to 

improve production processes, sequences and product 

properties. According to Weser "we place the satisfaction of 

our customers at the centre of our attention and continually 

strive to seek possibilities to enhance the effectiveness, 

environment and quality of our products as well as to reduce 

environmental impact." 

R 


49

PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY 


EUROPE IR Italiana , Cartridges, Remanufacturing 

IR Italiana Riprografia announces compatible 

toners for Kyocera-Mita with chips 

The Italian company has widened their product range and introduced new compatible toner cartridges for use in Kyocera-Mita machines. 

The latest cartridges launched by IR Italiana 

Riprografia include compatible toner 

cartridges with chips for use in Kyocera 

ECOSYS P3045DN machines, with a yield of 

12,500 pages. 

Also launched were compatible toner 

cartridges with chips for use in Kyocera 

ECOSYS P3050DN, with a yield of 15,500 

pages and compatible toner cartridges with 

chips for use in Kyocera ECOSYS P3055DN 

with a yield of 25,000 pages. 

The above-mentioned cartridges feature 

the “following advantages”, according to IR 

Italiana Riprografia: “OEM equivalent print 

quality”; “100 percent compatibility with OEM 

toners”; “significant savings over [the] OEM”; 

“MSDS in compliance with REACH”. 

Additionally, the cartridges were produced 

“in a certificated environment” including the 

ISO 9001:2008 quality management system 

certificate; the ISO 14001:2004 environmental 

management system certificate; and the BS 

OHSAS 18001:2007 occupational health and 

safety management system certificate. The 

“product performances of several items 

distributed” follow the standards set by STMC 

and ISO 19752 and ISO 19798. 

For more information, please visit 

www.itrip.it. 

EUROPE Uninet, Toner, Ink, Cartridges 

UniNet releases whole range of new products 

UniNet launched Absolut Black toner and components for use in HP LaserJet Pro M102, 104, M 130, 132 MFPs, HP M 608, M633 

series, P 4515 series and Absolute Colour ink for use in Epson EcoTanks as well as replacement cartridges and components for use 

in various Sharp models. 

The first launch saw the company introduce 

Absolute Black toner and components for use 

in LaserJet Pro M 102, 104, M 130,132 MFP 

monochrome printer series. 

The HP LaserJet Pro M102, 104, M130, 132 

MFP machines are HPs’ newest low end 

monochrome printers and MFPs. Rated at 23 

ppm, and a price point of $120 (€100), the 

printer version offers mobile printing, and 

little else. The MFP versions include printing, 

copying, scanning and faxing capabilities, 

along with a 35 page Automatic Document 

feeder. The MFPs are priced at $220 (€183). 

Toner and drums follow a new design 

‘JetIntelligence technology’ featuring 

separate cartridge and drum units for these 

machines. 

The toner (CF217A) is rated at 1,600 pages 

and the drum unit (CF219A) is rated at 12,000 

pages. UniNet offers a complete product 

solution for the remanufacturing of these 

cartridges. 

UniNet also launched new multipurpose 

Absolute Black toner for use in HP M 609, 608, 

M 633, 632, 631 MFP, P 4515, 4015, 4014 / M 

4555 / M 603, 602, 601 monochrome printers. 

The HP MPT-608 is a new general purpose 

produced toner formula qualified to work on 

over 11 models which the company says 

“provides outstanding print quality, and 

fusing, as well as great page yield”. The toner 

is available in 1kg bottles. 

UniNet also announced the launch of 

Absolute Colour ink for use 

in Epson Expression ET 

2650, 2600, 2550, 2500, 

Epson Workforce16500, 

16450, and Epson L555, 

355 Inkjet printer series 

using EcoTank printing 

system. 

The Epson Expression 

ET-2650 – 2500, Epson 

Workforce16500, 16450, 

and Epson L555, 355 Inkjet 

colour printers are all MFP 

printing systems featuring the innovative 

EcoTank printing system - a cartridge-free 

technology that includes easy-to-fill 

supersized ink tanks capable of supplying ink 

for an extended period of time. 

The Epson Expression ET-2650 – 2500 

printer systems are rated at 4,000 pages in 

black and 6,500 pages in colour. Other 

features include built-in wireless printing 

capabilities, Micro Piezo print head 

technology, and 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi. 

The Epson Workforce 16500, 16450 are wide 

format printer series rated at 10,500 pages in 

black and 11,000 pages in colour. Other 

features include PrecisionCore on-demand 

printing technology, and 4800 x 1200 

optimized dpi. And lastly, the Epson L555, 355 

MFP Inkjet printer series were created to 

cover all the printing needs of most home and 

small business users- rated at 4,000 pages in 

black and 6,500 pages in 

colour. Other characteristics 

include built-in wireless 

printing capabilities, Piezo 

electric printing technology, 

and 5760 x 1440 optimized 

dpi. 

The Absolute Colour inks 

for use in Epson Expression 

ET 2650, 2600, 2550, 2500, 

Epson Workforce16500, 

16450, and Epson L555, 355 

inkjet printer series are 

refillable ink bottles. 

And finally announced were Absolute 

Colour toner replacement cartridge and 

components for use in Sharp MX 5141, 5140, 

5111, 5110, 4141, 4140, 4111, 3640, 3610, 

3115, 3110, 2640, 2615, 2610 colour MFP 

printer series. 

The Sharp MX 5141 / 4141 MFP colour 

printer series are rated at 51 and 41 ppm 

respectively with a printing resolution of 600 x 

600 dpi. These printing systems feature print, 

copy, scan and fax as an optional function, as 

well as an intuitive operation panel for easier 

usability. The black toner cartridge is rated at 

40,000 page yield and the colour cartridges 

are rated at 18,000 pages. 

UniNet offers a complete product solution 

for the remanufacturing of these cartridges. 

For further information, please visit 

www.uninetimaging.com. 




ASIA Mito, Toner Kits, 

Remanufacturing 

Mito releases new 

toner kits for Oki 

printers 

Mito Colour Imaging Co., Ltd., 

has announced the launch of its 

new alternative toner kits 

designed for Oki’s LED printers. 

EUROPE Aster, Toner Kits 

Aster releases Kyocera 

replacement toner kits 

Aster’s new replacement colour toner kits are compatible with Kyocera’s latest printers, 

released in March 2017. 

The company has launched a new series of 

replacement colour toner kits for Kyocera’s TK- 

5220, TK-5230 and TK-5240 printer series, which 

were released earlier this year in March. 

Aster’s replacement toner kits of TK-5220 and 

TK-5230 series are for use in ECOSYS M5521cdn, 

M5521cdw, P5021cdn and P5021cdw, and that of 

TK-5240 series is for use in ECOSYS M5526cdn, 

M5526cdw, M5026cdn and M5026cdw. 

Aster’s press release declares, “Aster offers a 

wide range of niche products and its range is 

expanding. The newly released toner kits will help 

our customer enlarge their product portfolio and 

earn more profits in the niche market.” 

For more information visit www.goaster.com. 

Mito has just unveiled its two 

remanufactured alternative toner 

kits OKI-C612 and OKI-C712, 

created to be compatible with Oki’s 

reliably speedy LED printers, 

specifically the C600 and C700 

series. The printer models the toner 

kits will be compatible with, include 

the OKI C612n, the C612dn, the 

C712n and the C712dn. 

The OKI-C612 toner kit offers a 

page yield of 8,000 pages for mono 

cartridges and 6,000 for colour 

cartridges, while the OKI-C712 

alternative kit gives a higher yield, of 

11,000 pages for mono cartridges 

and 11,500 pages for colour. 

Both toner kits, according to 

Mito, are comparable with the 

products produced by the OEM in 

terms of both printing quality and 

page yield. 

Oki’s C612 and C712 A4 colour 

printers are predicted to be popular 

on the market, as they are designed 

to be ideal for both individual and 

workplace use. Their features 

include a rapid print speed and a 

high quality of paper handling with 

high definition colour technology, 

which means they are well-suited to 

producing in-house marketing 

materials. 


www.mito.com.cn. 

52 

EUROPE Embatex, Turbon, Cartridges, Remanufacturing 

New releases from Embatex 

and Turbon 

The two remanufacturers have launched a wide range of remanufactured cartridges for use in 

Epson, HP, Lexmark, Kyocera and Samsung machines. 

This month the remanufacturers extended their 

remanufactured cartridge range with CMYK sets 

for use in Epson Workforce Pro WF-4630DWF/WF- 

5690DWF. The black cartridge comes with a page 

yield of 3,000. The CMYK cartridges come with a 

page yield of 2,700. Furthermore the Epson range 

was extended by launching a CMYK set for use in 

Epson Workforce Pro WF-5110DW/WF-5690DWF. 

The CMYK set comes as an XXL set and come with 

page yields of 4,600. 

The HP range was extended with a 

monochrome cartridge for use in HP Laserjet Pro 

M12/M26 and a monochrome cartridge for use in 

HP LJ Pro M402 MA DC. The former comes with a 

page yield of 1,000 and the latter with a page yield 

of 18,000. Also launched was an XL CMYK set for 

use in HP Officejet Pro 7740/8740 with the black 

having a page yield of 3,000 and the CMY 

cartridges having a page yield of 1,600. Multipacks 

for use in HP Officejet Pro 7740/8740 are also 

available now. 

Also launched were remanufactured cartridges 

for use in Kyocera Taskalfa 3010i and Kyocera 

Taskalfa 3510i. The former monochrome cartridge 

comes with a page yield of 20,000 and the latter 

comes with a page yield of 35,000. 

The Lexmark range was extended with 

CMYK sets for use in Lexmark CX410e and 

Lexmark CX310. 

The Samsung range was extended with 

remanufactured cartridges for use in Samsung 

ProXpress M4020 HC EE, Samsung ProXpress 

M4020 MA EE and Samsung ProXpress M4020 HC 

EE having page yields of 5,000, 10,000 and 15,000 

respectively. Also launched were remanufactured 

cartridges for use in Samsung ProXpress 

M4025ND/NX HC EE, Samsung ProXpress 

M4025ND/NX MA EE and Samsung ProXpress 

M4025ND/NX MA HC EE, aslo coming with page 

yields of 5,000, 10,000 and 15,000 respectively. 

For more information, visit www.turbon.de or 

www.emstar-net.com. 

THE RECYCLER • ISSUE 300 • NOVEMBER 2017

Email d.connett@candugbr.com 

to find out about an EU based solution 

to handle 10,000 tons per year.



GLOBAL Apex, Chips, Remanufacturing 

Apex releases replacement chips 

The company announced the release of a range of new replacement chips for use in Kyocera, Ricoh and Canon imageRunner products. 

The first range announced were replacement 

chips that have been designed for use in 

Kyocera’s TK-1150/1160/1170/3160/3170/3190/ 

5220 series of printers, which were released 

from July 2016. These A4 black and white or 

colour single-function and multi-function 

machines have a print speed of 35-55ppm 

(black and white) and 21-26ppm (colour). 

Most printers feature print, copy, scan and 

fax functions. 

Also announced were replacement chips 

for use in Ricoh IPSIO SP C420/C420e 

printers and include a full CMYK set. These 

chips all come with a 15,000 page yield. 

Apex said that these chips will be available 

soon but sample packs are available already 

on request. 

Furthermore Apex launched a set of CMYK 

replacement chips for use in Kyocera TASKalfa 

7052ci/8052ci. The CMY chips give a page 

yield of 30,000 and the black a page yield 

of 70,000. 

Newly launched were replacement chips 

for use in Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE 

C5560/C5550, Canon imageRUNNER 

ADVANCE C5540/C5535, Canon 

imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5560/C5550i, 

Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5540i/ 

C5535i printers with page yields of 60,000 

for the CMY and 69,000 for the black 

cartridge chip. 

Also now available are full ranges for Canon 

imageRUNNER ADVANCE C350i, Canon 

imageRUNNER ADVANCE C351iF/C250i, 

Canon imageRUNNER C1325iF/C1335iF/ 

C1335iFC, Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE 

C3520i/3530i, Canon imageRUNNER 

ADVANCE C255iF/355iF, Canon image- 

RUNNER ADVANCE 350iF/250iF, Canon 

imageRUNNER ADVANCE C3530i/3525i/3330i, 

Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE C250/350, 

Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE C3320L/ 

C3530, Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE 

C3525/C3520, Canon imageRUNNER 

ADVANCE C3330/3325, Canon imageRUNNER 

ADVANCE 3320 and Canon imageRUNNER 

C1225iF/1225. 

Apex also announced that replacement 

chips for use in Canon Colour imageCLASS 

MF810Cdn/820cdn are coming soon. 


www.apexmic.com. 

EUROPE Cross Imaging, Toner, Remanufacturing 

Cross Imaging releases new ranges of toner 

The company has released new toner for use in a range of OEM applications. 

The release included a set of CMYK 

compatible toner for use in Ricoh MP-C6501, 

C6501SP, C7501, C7501SP cartridges. It is 

available as bulk toner and Cross Imaging 

also offer the finished cartridge set; same for 

the CMYK toner for use in Ricoh MP- 

C305SPF that was released. 

The Brother range was extended with 

toner for use in Brother HL-L5000D, 

L5150DN, L5200DW, L6250DN, L6300DW, 

L6400DW machines which is available as 

bulk toner or the finished replacement 

cartridge. 

Also launched were Kyocera Mita ECOSys 

M3040idn,M3540idn (TK-3150); P3060DN, 

P3055DN, P3050DN, P3045DN (TK-3160); 

P3060DN, P3055DN,P3050DN (TK-3170); 

P3060DN, P3055DN (type TK-3190) which 

are all available as bulk toner or finished 

replacement cartridges. 

And finally, Cross Imaging added the 

CMYK toner range for use in Kyocera Mita 

ECOSys M6030cdn,P6130,P6530cdn (TK- 

5140); ECOSys P6035cdn, M6034cidn, 

M6535cidn (TK-5150); ECOSys P7040cdn 

(TK-5160); TASKalfa FS-306ci (TK-5195); 

TASKalfa FS-356ci (TK-5205); TASKalfa FS- 

406ci (TK-5215); TASKalfa FS-2551ci (TK- 

8325) which are offered as bulk toner and 

some of the above models are available as 

the finished replacement cartridge. 

New components launched were fusing 

components (made in Japan) for use in 

various Canon, HP, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, 

Toshiba and Xerox laser printers and 

multifunctional devices. 

Cross Imaging commented: “All toner 

have been successfully tested under various 

environmental conditions to prove their 

high and stable image-quality and 

performance. Engineered in Japan and 

made in the Japanese Manufacturer’s own 

production plants in Japan and China these 

toner stand for highest performance and 

reliability as required in today’s office- and 

production-printing environments that are 

largely MPS supported where nobody can 

risk to loose valuable printing contracts or 

customers because of toner related quality 

issues.” 

For more information, visit www.crossimaging.com. 

54 

THE RECYCLER • ISSUE 300 • NOVEMBER 2017

To advertise here 

Call: 01993 899800 

or email: info@therecycler.com 

marketplace 


marketplace 

To advertise here 

Call: 01993 899800 

or email: info@therecycler.com 

ETIRA: Working for all 

remanufacturers and partners 

ETIRA membership benefits include: 

Meeting new clients and partners at our network 

meetings! 

A strong fight against clever chips, unfair 

patents,waste transport rules etc.! 

PR-work to tell the world about remanufactured 

cartridges and why they are good for both 

consumers and the environment! 

Promotion of top-quality remanufacturing 

(standardisation)! 

Join our business Code of Conduct, 

and sell more cartridges thanks to 

our logo! 

Meeting 60 top remanufacturers 

already member of ETIRA........... 

ETIRA brings the remanufacturing 

Industry together. Be part of the family! 

Grieglaan 7 • 4837 CB Breda • The Netherlands 

Tel: + 31 6 414 614 63 • Fax: + 31 76 564 04 51 

info@etira.org www.etira.org 

John Marshall 

Graduate of The Royal Institute of Chemistry (GRIC) 

Master of Science - Colloids and Surface Chemistry - 

University of Bristol 

Consultant in toner development 

and production technologies. 

Contact: Jmowries@aol.com 

or +44 (0)7771 788 250 

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www.therecycler.com 

• 

years 

CELEBRATING TWENTY FIVE YEARS 

OF THE RECYCLER MAGAZINE 


57

Get in touch with us about news or features at news@therecycler.com 

THE RECYCLER - ISSN 2045-2047 (Print) 

NOVEMBER 2017 EDITION 

300 PUBLISHED 

20 October 2017 

ISSUE 301: DECEMBER 2017 

THE RECYCLER TEAM 

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s.unland@therecycler.com 

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