Nowadays, people no longer really associate printing with sustainability. Even today, many industries are still faced with high printing costs, resulting in the consumption of thousands of sheets of paper per month. Not to mention the printer itself. Brother realizes this and doesn’t give up.

Sustainable paper is an important first step that you should definitely take. It’s a small effort and you have a lot of choice today. You buy a printer for several years and it has to be a conscious decision. We knock on Brother’s door to hear what they’re doing. “Every ink cartridge that a consumer or professional purchases for an inkjet printer includes a pocket to put the old cartridge into. You can then throw the bag into the mailbox free of charge and Bpost will then deliver it to us for recycling,” says Frank Deneweth, Managing Director.

It couldn’t be easier, but he still finds that very few are sent. “From our point of view, sustainability is a nice story, but we ask the customer to cooperate. It’s about a mindset. Filling that bag and throwing it away requires an action.”

Blue Angel certificate

Brother no longer refills ink cartridges, but rather recycles them to recover raw materials. This happens with some toner models of laser printers. “Some toners, mainly the larger models of our professional devices, are recycled and remarketed in Europe.”

According to Deneweth, this can now be done twice before the toner is converted into pure raw materials. Bruder also proudly shows off his Blue Angels award. The certification was based on a series of independent tests and thorough audits carried out over a period of two years at the recycling plant in Krupina, Slovakia. The eco-label specifies requirements for the materials used, the dye used (in Brother’s case, the toner used), emissions into the air during the printing process and the performance characteristics of toner or ink cartridges.

Some toners are recycled in Europe and remarketed here.

Frank Deneweth – Managing Director

“Since 2021, we have been working on the revised Blue Angel criteria, which underline our commitment to reducing our impact on the environment and conserving resources. The design of our cartridges allows us to recycle approximately 86 percent of all toner collected, ensuring that none of the used genuine Brother toner cartridges we receive end up in landfill. On average, we are also able to reuse more than 75 percent of the weight of all our models.”

How can I return?

A story like this is fascinating, but to make it happen the toner cartridges have to come back to Brother. Deneweth emphasizes that many companies today are doing their best. When ordering a new toner cartridge, a small SME can take it out of the packaging and insert the old one. Each box has a shipping label that you can then stick on and take to a collection point.

Larger companies can easily have a box delivered. There is space for two, six or twelve toner cartridges. Once filled, the label provided can be attached and the box is sent to Brother for recycling.

40 million parts recycled

To date, Brother has remanufactured more than 40 million original cartridges. In the near future, it plans to increase this number and add additional reprocessing processes to its project portfolio. “The goal is not to send anything to the landfill,” Deneweth says plainly.

You might think it would be a logical move for companies to send used cartridges to Brother for free, but there are kidnappers on the coast. “There are dealers who buy used toner and then process it themselves,” he sighs. “They sometimes refill them with ink and then market them under the Brother brand name. This is illegal, but it does happen. We close many businesses every year by court order.”

And the dealers who simply want to recycle the cartridges? Deneweth would rather not have that. “You never know what will happen with this material. Do they keep the chips in the toners to abuse them later? What happens to the raw materials if they are destroyed?

This is a commercial post in collaboration with Brother. You can find more information about recycling cartridges and toners here.