Panasonic opens European toner cartridge recycling facility by Editorial staff. May 01, 2005
Panasonic Communications Co. of Newport, UK (PCCUK), started up a toner cartridge recycling facility during April. With an initial recycling capacity of around 30 000 units per annum, the facility will complement the used toner cartridge collection programme begun by PCCUK in December last year. Under this initiative, end users in 15 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK) have the opportunity return used fax toner cartridges for recycling. At present, the scheme covers fax toner cartridge models UG-3313 and UG-3350, but the intention is to expand collections.
Under the scheme, Panasonic inserts a return label into the cartridge carton box, together with the instruction manual. Most end users are then able to return the used toner cartridges to their nearest post office. PCCUK thinks this new facility will help to reduce the environmental impact of toner cartridges and considers it to be a practical demonstration of its commitment to recycling.
