DKWU: a new network of German printer cartridge remanufacturers

You may be surprised to learn the remanufacturing industry for printer cartridges is still unknown to a lot of companies and people. In Europe it is estimated that 40 percent of all cartridge users do not know there is an environmentally-friendly and quality alternative to the OEM cartridges available.

The marketing of the reman industry is still very much an “in-house” activity. It’s still a big secret and only occurs within the industry itself. Outside of the industry, it is mainly to cartridge dealers and certain other cartridge sales channels. End users, consumers and people responsible for output management and sustainability in the corporate sector have little-to-no knowledge of the legitimate, “green” cartridge reman industry.

This triggered Delacamp, celebrating its 140^th anniversary this year, to start the DKWU network (www.dkwu-info.de). DKWU is the network of German printer cartridge remanufacturers. This network of companies is now promoting the reman industry to a broader public and the EU authorities as well as to people within the industry. DKWU’s pillars for promoting the cartridge reman industry include:

• a website introducing genuine cartridge remanufacturing,
• visiting large corporations and promoting cartridge remanufacturing,
• a social media channel providing information on the topic,
• advertising the network and remanufacturing in magazines,
• articles in magazines, and
• lobbying, as a stakeholder, in the circular economy at the EU commission level.

DKWU stays in close contact to the European Toner and Inkjet Remanufacturers Association (ETIRA) in order to coordinate the industry efforts in Brussels.

Some of the demands of DKWU on the EU commission level include:

• issuing a mandate to the strict adherence to the waste hierarchy in Article 4 of Directive 2008/98/EC: Re-Use before Recycling;
• insisting a clearly visible paragraph on freedom of choice and the hierarchy of waste in all office imaging equipment owner’s manuals;
• setting a target date to require all office imaging consumables that are placed on the market to be 100 percent suitable for reuse: in effect, to establish a ban on single-use plastic cartridges;
• establishing an open empty cartridge collection system (no collection by imaging equipment manufacturers only);
• ensuring an open repair/refurbishing market for office imaging devices and their consumables including access to all documentation and SW/FW as well as spare parts needed for the repair/remanufacturing/refurbishing of the equipment and their cartridges;
• issuing a clear mandate to all imaging equipment manufacturers to accept remanufactured products into their equipment and to pace a ban on contracts that forbid the use of third party, remanufactured consumables;
• Introduce legal challenges to patent applications to prevent patents being granted that hinder the repair/refurbishing of cartridges;
• conducting investigations and corrective actions if imported products do not comply with relevant regulations such as WEEE and REACH/CLP.

As a network, DKWU is much more flexible than any other industry organization. There is no membership fee and no budget. If all members agree on a certain initiative, like an advertisement in a magazine for example, the cost is simply split equally among the members. Membership to the DKWU network is limited to companies that are active in the office imaging equipment remanufacturing industry and headquartered in Germany.

For more information, go to the website www.dkwu-info.de or contact Volker Kappius at Delacamp on vkappius@delacamp.com