Recyclers keep up with OEMs

Increasing environmental consciousness has encouraged more entrepreneurs to go into recycling, thus giving rise to a wide range of products remanufactured into forms of the same use or purpose as the original, or transformed for other uses.

In the information and imaging technology industries, the recycling industry needs to keep up with the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who continuously introduce changes in their products, making it difficult for remanufacturers to keep up with such changes. The latter, however, are also using IT to constantly monitor and match these changes in upgrading their recycled products.

"We have to be always up on our toes for new products while continuously doing research to improve our own," said Norbert Grimm, president of Printing Images CtC Inc.

The firm, located in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone (047-2526012, 0916-3053244) with an office in Makati City (02-8954944, c/o Jay de la Paz), remanufactures empty inkjet cartridges for a growing international market.

"Equally important is our relationship with our customers," added Grimm. "So long as they continue to be satisfied with our products, we will not fail to keep improving them."

Grimm’s counterparts abroad are also determined to hurdle the OEM challenge.

Lionel Brown of Future Graphics Llc sees the need to fully utilize the World Wide Web so that remanufacturers may be able to access trends and updates in the industry.

Mitch Schwartz of Designgraphix is not concentrating only on cartridge remanufacturing but also on services.

Tony Andolino of Tri-Dim Filter thinks that the greatest challenge comes from new cartridges that are difficult to recharge.

If it’s any indication that despite these difficulties, the market for recycled inkjet cartridges continues to grow, orders for the products of Printing Images keep coming, and the company is doubling efforts to encourage more people to sell their empty inkjet cartridges to it. Its efforts have paid off as collection in the past two months has increased from last year’s average of 50,000 pieces per month to 62,000 in January and 69,000 in February.