Recycle process of "Ink Cartridge Return Project"

In Japan, printing product manufacturers and sellers have put out collection boxes at retail outlets to collect used ink cartridges of theirs. Moreover, in order to further improve collection rate, the Brother Group along with other printing product manufacturers and sellers launched an "Ink Cartridge Return Project" with post offices serving as a go-between in January 2007. Collection began at 3,638 post offices across the country in April 2008. Because ink cartridges can be deposited in the collection boxes at the post offices regardless of the manufacturer, the project has been a success.

Recently, local government offices have started to install collection boxes.

Used toner cartridges and drum units from printing products are being collected free of charge. Requests are accepted for one or more consumables via the company Web site, telephone or fax.

In the Brother eco point program, points are awarded for every consumable sent back to the company and seedlings are planted according to the number of points earned.

"Ink Cartridge Return Project" won the 13rd Green Purchasing Award in September 2011.

 In December 2011, Brother Industries, Ltd. launched "Project Homecoming" in Singapore, an initiative stemming from the "Ink Cartridge Return Project" in Japan.

Process for reusing toner cartridges

Monochrome toner cartridges that have been reused recently

As the collection of monochrome toner cartridges was expected to increase, Mie Brother Precision Industries, Ltd. started to work on reusing toner cartridges for black and white laser printers in FY2009 (April 1, 2009-March 31, 2010) based on recycling expertise gained in Europe. This process was first done for TN-25J toner cartridges, and the reuse of TN-37J and TN-26J cartridges also started recently. Collected used toner cartridges undergo sorting, disassembly, cleaning, and parts replacement for reuse. To further reduce environmental impact, the company shares information with recycling facilities in Europe and the Americas as needed, and is continually improving the methods of reusing toner cartridges.
The company aims to expand its recycling activities to color toner cartridges.

Website for collecting toner and ink cartridges (USA)

In the USA, prepaid shipping labels can be downloaded from the website of Brother International Corporation (U.S.A.) (BIC (USA)); users can send their used toner cartridges to the company for free simply by attaching the label to the package. BIC (USA) sorts the collected toner cartridges; some are reused, while other unusable ones are recycled through the WtE (thermal waste-to-energy technologies) process.

Used toner cartridges are also collected in Canada and Argentina via local sales facilities.

Roller cleaning unit

Brother Industries (U.K.) Ltd. (BIUK) recycles used color toner cartridges for printing devices.

There were many difficulties to overcome in establishing the recycling process, particularly the reuse of development rollers. To facilitate the work, special tools for cleaning rollers were designed and introduced. BIUK also evaluated the first model of toner filling machines to be introduced and supplied in Europe. Thus, BIUK has become the Brother Group's technology center for toner cartridge recycling.

Toner filling machine

Scrapped toner cartridges are recycled into plastic materials in the UK and Slovakia. However, it was found that the volume of recycled plastic materials exceeds the amount required for production in the region. Consequently, quality re-evaluations and tests were conducted to check that the plastic materials can be recycled in other regions. In Malaysia, closed-loop material recycling has been launched to produce new cartridges.

Toner cartridge inspection by Brother Industries (Slovakia) s.r.o.

In November 2006, Brother Industries (Slovakia) s.r.o. was established as a new recycling facility in Krupina, Slovakia, to meet the ever-increasing volume of used consumables collected.

Reeso's corporate logo

Kiala's corporate logo

Brother France SAS outsources the collection and recycling of used products and consumables to EcoLogic and Reeso. Collaboration with Kiala (a company that has just started to undertake collection and recycling) and Reeso has enabled Brother France SAS to take advantage of the network of 3,000 collection points across France to collect used cartridges, which supplements the collection system by mail. In September 2009, Brother France SAS started to collect ink cartridges via the collection network, and in February 2010, the scope of collected items was expanded to cover toner cartridges. By June 2010, there are now more than 6,000 collection points, most of which will start collecting two types of consumables (ink and toner cartridges) and some products.

Brother is the first manufacturer in France to offer such a solution. Packages with the Kiala logo help publicize our partnership.

Leaflet

At the end of March 2009, Brother Nordic A/S (BND) launched the Brother Environment Partner (BEP) program (Miljøpartner) in which product dealers are requested to collect used toner cartridges and drums and return them to BND. To minimize CO₂ emissions for shipping, collected toner cartridges and drums are packaged by dealers and returned to BND in six or twelve boxes at a time. These used consumables are then recycled by Brother Industries (U.K.) Ltd. and Brother Industries (Slovakia) s.r.o.
To promote the collection of used consumables, BND presents annual BEP awards to dealers who contribute most to this program in a year.
As of the end of March 2010, the number of used consumables returned to BND increased about six-fold on a monthly average basis compared with the nine-month trial period before the launch of the program.

BIC(S) collection box

Brother International Singapore Pte. Ltd. (BIC(S)) coordinates collection and recycle of used consumables in four countries of Southeast Asia: Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. With toner cartridges, BIC(S) inspects collected products and sends only those that can be recycled as products to Brother Industries Technology (M) Sdn. Bhd. (BITM) for remanufacturing. Products that fail inspections are recycled by an outside company.

In Singapore, used consumables are collected at the BIC(S) showroom and Brother Group antenna shops in shopping malls.

As for ink cartridges, a send-in collection program was launched for within the country in FY2008 (April 1, 2008-March 31, 2009). It works by having users place collection requests online at the company Web site. They then are sent an envelope in which they place the ink cartridges and send them back by mail to company free of charge. Once received, BIC(S) has them recycled by an outside company.

"Project Homecoming" logo mark and a collection box

On December 1, 2011, Brother Industries, Ltd. launched "Project Homecoming" to collect used ink cartridges in Singapore in collaboration with four other printer manufacturers (Canon, Dell, Seiko Epson, and Lexmark International).

This project originated with the "Ink Cartridge Return Project" in Japan conducted by six companies (the above five companies plus Hewlett-Packard Japan, Ltd.) in collaboration with Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd. This is the first joint project for printer manufacturers to collect used ink cartridges outside Japan.

In Singapore, collection boxes have been placed in 13 branches of the National Library, which are visited by many people daily, with cooperation from the National Environment Agency and the National Library Board. Collected ink cartridges are disassembled and then materials such as plastics and metals are recycled.

Under the Brother Earth  slogan, the Brother Group will continue to advance eco-conscious efforts on a global scale on every aspect of its corporate activities with a forward-looking commitment.