A new white paper published by Clover Imaging Group explores the weighty issue of remanufactured versus newly built compatible (NBC) cartridges.
As the paper explains, over the last two decades dealers have witnessed the “steady rise of remanufactured print cartridges” which offer a range of benefits; among them, “steep cost reductions […] deeply reduced environmental effects, and better opportunities for businesses that rely on printing equipment and document processing tools to generate value.”
However, NBC cartridges are now starting to muscle in on the market. Built “from scratch” and designed to fit a range of popular OEM printer models, these cartridges seem to offer “a valuable reward”. But according to CIG, “the reality of the situation is that the risk is simply too great for responsible dealers to make this switch.”
The paper proceeds to elaborate on the risks of NBC cartridges, which “fall into three broad categories” – namely, “legal concerns, quality concerns, and environmental concerns.”
Among the legal concerns are issues such as “potential culpability for intellectual property violations”, which has resulted in a swathe of “OEM IP enforcement actions” against manufacturers of NBC cartridges. Lawsuits and patent infringement cases have also become frequent news fodder, particularly in recent months, as Canon filed a slew of cases, many of which “revolve around patents” for a dongle gear mechanism designed “to make installation and removal of cartridges particularly easy and secure.”
Also covered in CIG’s white paper is a list of quality differences between remanufactured and NBC cartridges, and information on the environmental impact of NBCs, which are described in the white paper as “egregious environmental offenders” due to the fact that, among other issues, their production “consumes 54 percent more fossil fuels.” These revelations follow on from the plastic pollution infographic campaign which CIG embarked on in recent weeks.
CIG describes remanufacturing, by contrast to the production of NBC cartridges, as “inherently environmentally friendly” as it reuses products which would otherwise be sent to landfill. In addition, the company explains that manufacturers of NBC cartridges “rarely offer” programs for recycling empty cartridges and NBC cartridges “led to increased ink and paper waste due to the inferior quality of the prints they produce.”
The paper concludes with a “positive outlook” for remanufactured cartridges, as CIG reveals that the US “has already firmly shifted its legal framework in favour of cartridge remanufacturing” and Europe “is following suit”.
To read the paper in full click here.
