ETIRA joins the fray commenting on the US Governments banning the import of all products produced by Ninestar and eight Zhuhai-based subsidiaries.
On Friday 9th June Ninestar was excluded from the US supply chain due to their involvement in business practices that target China’s Uyghur population and other persecuted groups, as stated by the US Homeland Security Department (DHS). Read The Recycler story here.
Vincent van Dijk, the Manager of the European Toner and Inkjet Remanufacturers Association (ETIRA), expressed shock at the official findings by the US federal government about Ninestar’s involvement in the forced labour and emphasised the seriousness of the matter, stating: “This is a very serious matter, because it is not some market rumour or NGO report saying this, but an official finding by the US federal government about one of the worlds’ largest suppliers of low-cost non-OEM single-use cartridges.”
ETIRA, which represents European third-party remanufacturers of OEM toner and inkjet cartridges, said that the US ban will have a global impact. “Ninestar are also very active in the EU and has many different brands, so EU distributors would be wise to quickly distance themselves from Ninestar now to avoid being associated with forced labour.” According to van Dijk, “they [dealers] should switch to reuse cartridges from European remanufacturers”.
ETIRA is also asking the “EU and national authorities to also immediately investigate for possible similar violations of European rules on sustainable sourcing, protection of human rights, etc.”
ETIRA expressed concerns that Ninestar product destined for the USA market “may now be dumped on other world markets, including the EU. This would drive down prices of the environment-friendly non-OEM re-use cartridges, who already struggle to compete with polluting cheap unsustainable single-use cartridges from Asia, even more. Also, it would bring more waste to the EU, and kill many remanufacturing jobs in Europe, as these products will not be remanufactured for reuse as a cartridge.”
“Let there be no profiteering from forced labour”, said van Dijk. “European consumers and businesses should only buy reuse cartridges from trusted European suppliers.”
