THE PROJECT
The LIFE NEW4CARTRIDGES project purpose is to reduce cartridge waste, developing a semi-automatized regeneration system for ink cartridges which could be replicable and scalable.
The final objective is to provide innovative solutions for both the upcycling of exhausted reusable cartridges and the recycling of cartridges that are no longer suitable for reuse, thus pursuing a zero-waste strategy.
Problems targeted
The European ink cartridge market has a serious environmental impact: 370 million units sold per year and a cartridge reuse rates around only 20%.
This entails several consequences for the environment:
-
an enormous wastage of limited natural resources. Each cartridge contains on average 30 g of plastic and 1 g of metals like copper and aluminum;
-
the release of several hazardous and toxic chemicals in the environment coming from residues of inks present in the cartridges, such as isopropyl alcohol and diethylene glycol;
-
the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and heavy metals that can pollute the air through incineration or contaminate soil and water when cartridges are landfilled. In fact, it takes 1000 years for a print cartridge to fully decompose in a landfill site;
-
a significant global warming potential (GWP) impact considering that each new cartridge use cycle is responsible for around 0.48kgCO2eq.
Despite of high potential of reuse through managing of cartridges thanks to WEEE stream, there are two main barriers to the reuse of cartridges that LIFE NEW4CARTRIDGES aims to overcome:
-
nowadays, regeneration procedures strongly rely on operator skills and are not very advanced nor scalable. In addition, regeneration procedures include a cleaning phase that is highly water demanding (70ml/cartridge) and uses chemical solvents (2ml/cartridge). Moreover, this procedure often causes uncontrolled dispersion of ink residues in the environment.
-
the printer consumables market is dominated by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Although from an environmental perspective reuse is desirable, OEMs might not consider it as economically advantageous. In fact, OEMs discourages regeneration of cartridges, arguing that they have lower performance than original ones. To hinder reuse, they often release the so-called killer chips that make cartridges inoperable if “tampered” with, thus the regeneration often is not possible. Finally, through their taking-back scheme, OEMs substantially remove a large part of cartridges from the regeneration stream.
​
To promote the uptake of a new paradigm based on reuse over energy recovery or landfilling, more efficient and scalable regeneration techniques and business models are needed.
Project Objectives
Thanks to LIFE NEW4CARTRIDGES project, we will reach three important objectives.
-
Reuse of each cartridge up to 10 times
Project leader Eco Store, an Italian SME specialising in printer consumables, will develop and demonstrate a semi-automated ink cartridge regeneration process to replace the currently manual workflow, enabling the same cartridge to be reused up to 10 times instead of the current 3 times limit.
-
Optimization of cleaning process to eliminate ink residues from cartridge without using chemicals
Thanks to the implementation of a new cleaning procedure we will save 99% of water consumption, eliminate the chemical solvents, and increase of 20-25% the filling capacity of the ink tank and cartridges.
-
Recycle of cartridges no longer reusable to produce high-quality secondary raw material
The cartridges that are unsuitable for being reused will be recycled through a technology developed by BERG, which will be optimized to treat ink cartridges and transform them into high-quality secondary raw materials. The technology will
be tested by recycling of at least 1.000 cartridges.
A paradigm changes
LIFE NEW4CARTRIDGES will provide evidence of a sustainable and cost-effective approach to overturn the paradigm adopted by OEMs.
Thank to this project, we could raise society and consumers awareness and foster discussion at policy level about a more sustainable paradigm, thus trying to encourage changes in consumers’ attitudes, inspire more environmentally responsible behaviors and stimulate European investments in innovative eco-friendly technologies.
With the contribution of the LIFE Program of the European Union.
LIFE20 ENV/IT/000423
