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September 2011: ETIRA/ Recycler/UKCRA cartridge remanufacturing industry meeting in London draws record turn-out !
On 15/16 September, European cartridge remanufacturers and their business partners met in London for 2 days of networking and learning. Over 105 delegates (a record !) made their way to the UK capital to hear the latest market developments from industry expert David Connett, publisher of Recycler PE. Among the Speakers was Peter Mayhew from Lyra, the specialized market intelligence firm, who addressed the industry's future: even though the general economy is stil struggling, imaging may have left the worst behind it. MSE's Mark Dawson gave his views on the colour toner outlook, while Ove Jansson from Nordic Ecolabel briefed the floor on their new criteria. French broker LVL CEO Philippe Guenin gave an update on how reman/OEM cooperation regarding the collection of empties may avoid adverse waste rules in France. Static's Ken Lalley showed how they help the industry move forward and grow overall market share.
Delegates appreciated the great networking: with so many remanufacturers, toner/ink suppliers, materials' and service suppliers, brokers, and even a few OEM rep's attending the meeting, there were many new bizz opportunities !
Many thanks to event organisers Recycler magazine, and kind sponsors Static Control, Promax Imaging, Delacamp and MSE !
ETIRA meeting in London fights toner clones that infringe OEM patents and wind up in European landfills
ETIRA also held its General Assembly in London last week. The association members quickly dealt with the usual statutory matters, but extensively talked about a major market challenge: newbuilt non-OEM toners from SE Asia. These cartridges are flooding the European market at unsustainably low price levels, and many are even falsely labeled as "remanufactured". In addition, many infringe OEM-patents and have no end-of-life solution, so they just wind up in the European landfill sites, polluting our environment.
ETIRA Members agreed that the "race to the bottom"-pricing by the newbuilt Asian non-OEM toners could turn Europe into the dumping ground for Asian products in two ways: on the one hand remanufacturers can no longer compete, so our lower returns prevent us to invest in our environment-friendly technology. On the other hand we see European landfill sites clogging up with Asian empties that cannot be remanufactured because remanufacturing them also infringes the OEM patent !
This situation is not acceptable in the long run. ETIRA will enhance its efforts to counter this development, by alerting buyers and reaching out to EU- and national authorities.
ETIRA also appointed 2 new Members of its Board of Directors for the remainder of the current Board mandate (until mid-2012).
Given the full agenda of current Board Member and Armor CEO Mr Pierre-Yves Léger, his role on the Board will now be fulfilled by Armor veteran Régis Thébaud (pictured, left).
Mr Jan Luijks, founder/owner of Cartrec, The Netherlands (pictured,right) was appointed to replace Mr Kees Uppenkamp.
Congratulations to both !
As per our statutes, elections of the Board of Directors is done every other year. The next full renewal will be at ETIRA's 2012 general meeting.
ETIRA at 2011 Remax trade show Frankfurt: Buy only from ETIRA Members !
Great networking at ETIRA Cocktail
Like every year, ETIRA exhibited at the 2011 edition of REMAX @PAPERWORLD, the #1 trade show in Europe for office supplies, held 29 January -1 February 2011 at Frankfurter Messe in Frankfurt, Germany.
We met with Members and prospects and distibuted hundreds of flyers urging visitors to buy remanufactured and services from ETIRA Members. The flyers also warned European resellers and buyers for imported newbuilts from Asia: these often infringe OEM-patents and hence buyers will get sued by OEMs; they have no end-of-life solution so pollute the environment, and some are even falsely labelled, which is a criminal offense !
Members and prospects gathered for drinks and great networking at the ETIRA Remax Cocktail on the Sunday.
Recycler/ ETIRA 2010 IF Conference in Barcelona great success !
On 21/22 October, almost 100 industry members from approx. 20 countries met at Barcelona’s Salle Pere IV hotel for the #1 autumn industry conference “Focus on Europe”. Perfectly organised by Recycler Magazine, delegates from all over Europe and beyond enjoyed the great networking opportunity, and the learning experience from the many instructive presentations. Industry speakers included Static Control’s Steve Weedon, OCP’s Dirk Hünseler, Fredy Grass of CBR Engineering, Green Printer Company’s Keith Moss, and many others. Useful updates on the market and patents were presented by Lyra’s Peter Mayhew and industry lawyer Frau Dr. Katja Dauster. Networking and meeting prospects was the name of the game at the Cocktail/Dinner, lunch, and of course in the bar……...
At Zhuhai Conference, ETIRA calls for sustainable pricing and end to false labelling
Upon invitation of the organisers, ETIRA’s Vincent van Dijk (pictured) addressed an industry conference (“GRIGA”) held 25 September 2010 in Zhuhai, China. GRIGA is a platform initiated by Asian industry members, and seeks to unite the global cartridge remanufacturing industry to promote our products and faciliate business.
In his address, van Dijk outlined what ETIRA stands for, and how it services its Members in growing markets and their businesses. ETIRA also adressed latest market developments and challenges currently facing the European cartridge remanufacturers. We mentioned in particular the recent flood of imports of low-priced newbuild products from SE Asia, which has taken a large market share away from both OEM’s and the remanufacturing industry. In some East-European countries, the aftermarket-share is over 50%, so even larger than original, but this mainly concerns newbuilds. Some of the newbuilds are incorrectly labeled as “remanufactured”, thus benefiting from the “environment-friendly’ reputation without doing the work for it or providing the greenhouse gas emission savings. Moreover, some newbuilds infringe patents from the printer manufacturer, and hence remanufacturing them would be an offense and a financial liability to the remanufacturer.
ETIRA calls on buyers to source only genuinely remanufactured cartridges as provided by its Members.
Newbuilt cartridges incorrectly labeled as remanufactured:
Today, some non-OEM imported cartridges are not properly labeled. They are labeled as “remanufactured” or as “re-used” or alike, but in reality these products are imported newly built cartridges, mostly imported from SE Asia. Often these cartridges also infringe OEM-patents. The OEM’s are paying growing attention at these products, and they will take legal action to stop these imports.
But also our industry suffers financial damage, because customers believe that they are “being green” when buying these cartridges, yet in reality they are buying new cartridges! The wrongly-labeled newbuilts hence take advantage of the remanufactured “brand”, without doing the work for it, or providing its environmental benefits.
ETIRA has taken action against these newbuilt products claiming to be remanufactured. We have sued a number of companies and webshops in Europe. Where ever we have found these products, we wrote to the supplier(s) involved and insisted on an end to their trade. In several cases we have taken legal action which resulted in an a large fine for the selling company.
SO BE GREEN, NOT BLACK: buy only remanufactured from ETIRA Members (see the list under "Find Members"-section on this website)
October 2009: Eco-design of Imaging Equipment: ETIRA calls on EU to ensure that cartridges can be re-used
Remanufactured cartridges have a 45-60% lower CO2 emission than new cartridges. This commonly known fact is substantiated by many Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) studies:
-LCA study students University of Kalmar, Sweden, 2003. Click here for the study.
-LCA study Xanfeon consultants, UK, December 2008.
Click here for the study.
-LCA study SAPI/University of Modena, Italy, 2008
-Report University of Linkoping, Sweden, 2006 click here (see table on page 451) clearly concludes that regarding toner cartridges, remanufacturing reduces the environmental impact by 60% on average as compared to producing an new cartridge
All studies are available from ETIRA upon request.
The LCA’s mentioned above all show that the largest potential for reducing a printer's environmental footprint lies not in reducing its energy use or paper consumption, but in saving the natural resources (oil, aluminum, timber) by not having to produce a new toner of inkjet cartridge, but remanufacturing it for its (multiple) re-use.
This month, the EU will look at Eco-design requirements of Imaging Equipment. ETIRA calls on the EU to set strict rules for cartridge design which will allow cartridges to be re-used. But cartridge manufacturers use many tricks to make it impossible for cartridges to be re-used: by fitting clever chips that switch off the cartridge after 1st use, by using glue instead of screws to fit the cartridge together, or by refusing to honor the warranty of the printer simply because non-OEM cartridges were used.
All these tools are unnecessary and illegal, and their only objective is to prevent remanufacturers from giving cartridges a second life. The result is more waste, and more CO2 emissions. Want more details ? Contact ETIRA on info@etira.org
New study proves it: Carbon footprint of remanufactured cartridge is 45-60% lower than new cartridge !
February 2009: ETIRA Members met on 1 February in Frankfurt, in the framework of the Paperworld trade show. The Member's Only session was addressed by Dr Michael Gell of Xanfeon (pictured), who presented the results of his recent study measuring the carbon footprint of new cartridges against remanufactured ones. The study confirmed that carbon emissions are up to 45% lower in case of 2-4 cycles, and up to 60% lower in case of additional cycles !
The late afternoon/dinner meeting also provided great informal networking possibilities for Members. New Members from Russia (OPS), Serbia (Tutoric) and Germany were also present.
Just click below on "Read more" for a copy of the study from the UKCRA website.
Do you want to join ETIRA and meet new clients too ? Just send an e-mail to info@etira.org and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
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Re-use your cartridges: Less expensive and environment-friendly !!
When a printer cartridge has been fully used, it can be remanufactured to be used again several times. This is a cost-effective and environmental-friendly alternative to buying a new cartridge.
On this website you will find all the information you need about the remanufacturing of cartridges.
ETIRA
ETIRA is short for European Toner & Inkjet Remanufacturers Association. ETIRA represents the interests of the European inkjet and toner cartridge remanufacturers and related service providers/compatibles manufacturers, etc. in Europe. Created in 2003, ETIRA members now account for over 40% of industry turnover. Today, ETIRA is the recognized industry body for all topics affecting cartridge remanufacturing. A non-profit organisation in accordance with Belgian law, its statutory seat is Brussels, with a Secretary General's office in Breda, The Netherlands.
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Latest hot news......
Read ETIRA's 2010 report for a full overview of our activities !
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Want to know everything about the quality of remanufactured cartridges ? Click here !
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For the 4th time in only 2 years, independent German tests confirm top-quality of non-original cartridges !
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May 2007: Dutch consumer test confirms: Refilled as good as original cartridges !
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EU Commission prefers recycled cartridges - Click here (see page 32) !
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Want to join ETIRA ? Click here
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