Cartridge World, an Australian speciality cartridge retailing chain, has emphasised the need to refill cartridges since the procedure promotes reuse and recycle. | |
| According to Cartridge World, globally over 900 million empty cartridges are thrown into landfills every year and it is continuously increasing. |
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| A laser printer cartridge is said to take over 450 years to decompose naturally. More than 3.4 litres of oil is needed to manufacture a laser cartridge. |
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| "In one year, if the world's discarded cartridges were stacked end-to-end, they would circle the earth more than three times. Printer cartridges in India are today replaced by expensive new original equipment manufacturer (OEM) cartridges or compatibles or poorly refilled cartridges. The refill industry is largely unorganised," said Naveen Rakhecha, CEO, South Asia, Cartridge World. |
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| He contended that refilling was a scientific process and involved micro manufacturing and engineering. |
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| "Refilling in India takes place in the 'drill and fill' way and most of the times, the same ink / toners are used to refill any and every cartridge brand and make. This can severely damage the cartridge and the printer. We use cartridge specific OEM like ink, toner, parts and refilling processes to ensure that our customer get OEM like output both in print quality as well as yield," he added. |
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| Rakhecha said the demand for cartridges is expected to increase from 12.25 million in 2005 to about 30 million in 2009 in unit terms and from Rs 1,600 crore (2005) to about Rs 3,000 crore (2009) in revenue terms. |
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| The key influencing factors will be higher economic growth and enhanced corporate spending thereby providing impetus to IT expenditures. |
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| "With higher adoption of multi-functional peripherals, consumers are presented with more opportunities to print (print, fax, copy and scan). With the advent and popularity of e-transactions, like e-Tickets, and easy printing of photographs at home, usage of printers even by children has increased multi-fold," he said. |
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| Cartridge World has chalked out an expansion plan for the Indian sub-continent. This year, Cartridge World plans to establish its presence in the metros and secondary cities of India. It will also enhance its presence in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. |
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| Recently, the firm opened its second store in Bangalore. |
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| In the next financial year, in the second phase, Cartridge World plans to spread out in secondary and establish presence in and tertiary cities of India and in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal and even in the Maldives and Bhutan. Cartridge World plans to open 250 stores across the Indian sub-continent by the year 2010, the company said. |
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