Robert Belanger, manager of an Island Ink-Jet kiosk in Ottawa, poses with a selection of cartridge refill kits. CREDIT: Pat McGrath, The Ottawa Citizen

If there is a blot on the reputation of ink-jet printers, it is the relatively high cost of replacement ink cartridges and the millions of empty cartridges that end up in landfills each year.

A B.C. company has a solution it claims saves customers up to 60 per cent on the cost of a new cartridge and stems the flow, at least temporarily, into landfill sites.

Island Ink-Jet Systems has opened a refilling kiosk in Ottawa where customers can drop off empty cartridges and have them replenished in less than in an hour.

These days, it’s easy to find a basic ink-jet printer for under $100. But replacement cartridges can set you back well over a third the cost of the printer itself.

Island Ink-Jet Systems can refill cartridges for no more than $19.19, said Alex Schulz, the company’s area developer for Ontario. On average, the cost of refilling works out to one-third the price of a cartridge, he said.

The system works on 95 per cent of cartridge models and allows cartridges to be refilled three to five times, he added. Customers can get a refund if they are unsatisfied with the results. The company also sells a refill kit that can save up to 90 per cent on printing costs.

Island Ink-Jet claims it kept over a million cartridges from going straight to landfills last year. According to Lyra Research, 780 million toner and ink-jet cartridges went that route worldwide last year, while a recycling industry magazine estimates the annual figure for North America is 300 million cartridges.

Printer giant Hewlett Packard, for its part, has taken steps to ease the environmental burden of its ink-jet cartridges. Customers can send the cartridges back to the company, which grinds down the cartridges and separates the metals and plastics for reuse.

“HP is the only [original equipment manufacturer] that offers an ink-jet recycling program,” said Anthony Faga, ink-jet category manager.

He said recent research has shown that refilled cartridges are far less reliable than new ones. “Our cartridges are manufactured with single use in mind, and from a reliability perspective we stand behind our product,” he said.

The issue of refilling or remanufacturing cartridges has roused the ire of some of the big printer makers.

In the United States, Lexmark International has been embroiled in a legal battle with re-manufacturer Static Control Components over a computer chip that matches Lexmark toner cartridges with its printers. Static Control claims the chip unfairly closes it out of the market, while Lexmark contends its technology is protected under copyright laws.

Gilles Brassard, communication chair at the Imaging Technology Council of Canada, said printer giants have adopted a model similar to that used by Gillette, which basically gives away its manual razors and makes money off disposable blades.

“For them [re-manufacturers] are an annoyance. At first they thought we would disappear as an industry, which didn’t happen,” said Brassard, who also operates a re-manufacturing business.

Hewlett Packard and Lexmark are being probed by the European Union competition commissioner for allegedly charging artificially high prices on ink cartridges. An official at Canada‘s Competition Bureau said the agency is aware of that investigation but does not publicly confirm or deny the subjects it is examining.

Including the Ottawa kiosk, Island Ink-Jet Systems has 32 locations in Ontario and 142 in North America.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004