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Collecting and recycling used consumables  A major recycle center in Europe from Brother Industries (U.K.) Ltd. |
In Europe, Brother Industries (U.K.) Ltd. (BIUK) started a full-fledged recycle center in their manufacturing facilities as a major recycle center in Europe in 2004. There, materials are being recycled on the concept of a "closed loop system." This includes disassembling, washing and reusing the drum cartridges, remanufacturing the toner cartridges and a closed recycle just for resin wherein the resin is melted and used again in the same way as new material.
Consumables are being collected by having customers cut a COD shipping label from the product package, affixing it to the repackaged consumable and sending it back to Brother free of charge. Also, for corporate customers, collection boxes are set out in offices, which are then collected in bulk and shipped to the factory. To effectively collect toner cartridges across all of Europe, these recycle programs are being implemented in cohort with Cycleon of the Netherlands, a promoter of reverse logistics system.
The ReNew take-back plan, which was launched back in FY2007 (April 1, 2007-March 31, 2008), enabled us to collect and recycle 1.21 million toner cartridges in FY2008 (April 1, 2008-March 31, 2008). It is of interest to note that a recycling method was successfully developed for imaging rollers. Made up of rubber and a steel shaft, the imaging rollers had presented the greatest obstacle to complete recycling. Today, all of the materials from recovered toner cartridges — including foamed styrene and metals — are recycled into raw materials or reused.
Toner cartridge collection and recycling (USA)
Toner cartridge collection and recycling activities in the USA were started as a part of CSR promotion. Users can download prepaid shipping labels from the Web site of Brother's sales company in the USA. The labels are designed to be placed onto packages containing used toner cartridges, and then mailed back to the company. The sales company sorts and records the returned cartridges every month. Collected toner cartridges are partly refurbished and sold as products, while the rest are recycled for their materials.
Ink cartridge collection and recycling (Japan)
In Japan, attempts to collect ink cartridges had not gone farther than encouraging some users to send back their cartridges, making improvements in convenience and collection rate new issues to solve. Therefore, in April 2008, Brother Industries, Ltd. joined five other manufacturers in a tie-up with the Japan Post Group and started collecting used ink cartridges via an "Ink Cartridge Return Project" that set out collection boxes at 3,638 key post offices across the country. The Brother Group takes the responsibility to process the collected cartridges within the group. For example, covers are recycled as material for packaging materials used within the group and stationary.
Activities in other areas
In Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, Brother is working with contracted recyclers to collect used consumables and reduce the amount of waste they produce.
In Indonesia, Philippines and other markets, Brother outfits are studying possible recycling schemes that would tie up with the recycle center at BIUK and contracted recyclers. They will start these schemes as needed in order to reduce waste.
Activities for Building a Recycling-Oriented Society