Growing competition from vendors of compatible and remanufactured inkjet cartridges are having an effect on the bottom line of your printer’s manufacturer.

In a recent report it was shown that remanufactured and compatible cartridge supplies now own about 25% of Australia’s $1 billion market for toners and inkjet cartridges. Much of the purchasing of compatible and remanufactured cartridges has been the result of consumers and organizations adopting “Kermit’s Law” — It’s Keen to be Green, in their purchasing habits. That means recycled products are given first priority and have they have the added advantage of costing less.

To combat this your printer manufacturer has taken to offering a recycling service (see the little plastic bag included with your printer cartridge), and in some cases offering a remanufacturing service. We cannot locate a direct comment from any of the OEM’s concerning their interest in recycling printer cartridges, but we do know that by offering these services they have kept themselves in the running for lucrative government supply contracts. Is recycling truly an interest? Only they can answer that.