PRINTER TONER CARTRIDGE RECYCLING
Peter notes that, ultimately, it is the end user’s legal responsibility to ensure they deal with their own
collection, remanufacturing and lifecycle management increasingly efficient and scalable,” he says. “The latter is already being employed by Xerox, which, as the only printer OEM partner in two EU- funded circularity projects – CE-RISE and DiCiM – contributes to the development of future circular models for the IT industry and beyond.” Sustainability expectations will continue to shape purchasing decisions, making recycling and refillable/remanufactured products an increasingly important part of ESG strategies, says Cinzia. “Innovation will focus on further improving circularity, resource efficiency, and carbon reduction,” she adds. “The environmental benefits are already clear. An independent 2022 lifecycle assessment commissioned by Katun found that producing a refilled OEM A3 toner cartridge has 84% lower environmental impact than manufacturing a new-build cartridge, demonstrating the significant role these solutions can play in helping organisations meet their sustainability goals.” Peter adds that in the UK, there are limited waste options and exporting is only getting more expensive. “Having on- shore recycling solutions is the solution for now and the future,” he says. “The industry needs more support by way of awareness and encouraging
waste properly. “Since March 2025 it is UK law that all organisations over 10 people must separate their waste to recycle where possible and use licensed waste collectors and processing facilities,” he adds. “Food, card, paper, plastics must all be separated and recycled, and printer consumables are no different. They will contaminate other waste, so should be kept separate and collected by an authorised service provider.” Increasing demand and innovation With sustainability set to continue to be a priority for businesses in the future, demand for toner cartridge recycling schemes is expected to grow further and this will lead to more innovation in this sector too. “As sustainability reporting and legislation across Europe becomes more rigorous, businesses will increasingly expect recycling programmes to provide greater transparency, data, insights and a seamless, integrated experience,” says Ben. “We expect greater innovation in closed-loop recycling, enabling more materials to be recovered as secondary raw materials and kept in circulation for longer. Toner recycling is evolving from a waste management activity into an integral part of sustainable resource management, becoming circular by increasing the recycled content of the consumable products.” Maxime agrees that demand is being driven by increasingly stringent regulations around circularity, waste reduction, ecodesign and producer responsibility, as well as rising customer expectations for measurable ESG outcomes. “Innovation is expected to continue through advances in AI, IoT and analytics, helping make
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Sustainability expectations will continue to shape purchasing decisions, making recycling and refillable/ remanufactured products an increasingly important part of ESG strategies.
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end users to take responsibility for their waste and use the legitimate solutions available. “We need the regulatory bodies to support the companies doing things properly, we need tighter regulation and harsher penalties on the waste companies that are breaking the rules. As we see more social engagement with recycling particularly from the younger generations, we can only expect the demand for recycling solutions such as ours to grow.” n
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