Save money while helping the environment

February 2003
By Jan

Your printer sits there like a hunk of plastic. Paper is coming out, crisp with its new spray of ink. But something�s not quite right. There are streaks and lines in the print job, and what you�re printing has to look good. You�re running out of ink. It�s going to be $50.00 for a new cartridge. Begrudgingly, you give up the money, wishing that these things where cheaper. If this is you, there�s something you need to know.

Graham McOuat, the owner of the local Island Ink-Jet franchise, explains the services that he provides.

"The whole concept of Island Ink-Jet is to keep the cartridges out of the landfills. So many people now buy them, use them, throw them out. If we can get them to bring them in here, we'll refill them for probably a third of the cost. If we refill it, they can save 60 per cent, if they refill themselves with our refill kit, they can save 90 per cent."

McOuat's franchise is located in the food court of Mic Mac Mall, but he's looking to expand into Halifax with another kiosk. McOuat moved to metro from Moncton, where he was just a week late to get the rights to franchise New Brunswick.

"I said, what about Nova Scotia, and the people at the head office said nobody's spoken for it yet, so that's how I ended up down here. And, there's a big population base right in metro, so we'll get that going and expand from there."

Business has been steadily growing for McOuat, who opened in Dartmouth Oct. 2, 2002. "The big push is �refill, not landfill,� also, it's the big dollar saving. It's to get the word out. Ninety-eight per cent of our customers are very pleased. We're getting repeat customers now."

Island Ink-Jet started in1997 as a one-man operation in Courtenay, B.C.. Rob Dixon, an independent printer repairman, didn�t like having to throw away his old cartridges, so he came up with a way to refill them. He then met Carey Porcher, a small business owner, and they partnered up to make Island Ink-Jet what it is today. They opened their first franchise in Sept. 2002, and there are now 66 franchises across North America, with 5 of those in the U.S., and one in Mexico.

Carey Porcher became CEO of Island Ink-Jet, and the business has grown well. Island Ink-Jet now refills ink-jet and toner cartridges, and remanufactures used cartridges for re-sale under the Island Ink-Jet name.

And, besides the money that can be saved by refilling and remanufacturing ink-jet cartridges, it�s also a good for the environment. By providing this service, Island Ink-Jet is helping to keep used cartridges out of landfills. Pat Acton, the Director of Franchise Sales at the Island Ink-Jet head office (located in Courtenay) says, "The bottom line is, we're slowing down the move to the landfill for these cartridges."

"Eventually they will be thrown out, because they'll break and be no good," says McOuat. "We say anywhere from six to twelve times you can refill some of them."

That means big savings for the consumer. McOuat and his staff can refill your used cartridges on-site for about $10-$20, depending on the cartridge. But, no matter what type of ink-jet cartridge you use, you'll be saving 60 per cent of the cost of a new one if you get them refilled. Another option to the consumer is to buy the Island Ink-Jet refill kits, which allow the consumer to refill their own cartridges, at savings of up to 90 per cent of the original cost.

Island Ink-Jet also has a recycling program that allows schools and non-profit organizations to collect used cartridges to be sent for remanufacturing. McOuat doesn�t have any metro schools in the recycling program right now, since so far he�s been concentrating on promoting his business. Once he does, the school or group receives $2 a cartridge.

Mark Clattenburg, a grade six teacher at Beaverbank Monarch Drive Elementary School, is the head of his school�s ink-jet cartridge recycling program. While Monarch Drive doesn�t deal with Island Ink-Jet, their program through ThinkGreen.com is much the same.

"If the kids have any reusable ink-jet cartridges, or toner cartridges, bubble-jet, photocopier, anything along that line, they bring to us. So far we've been fortunate enough to recycle 462 cartridges. These go through a program called ThinkGreen.com. It�s a Canada based company, and it just tries to keep the cartridges out of the landfills.�

"Now, what it allows us to do is fundraise for our grade six school trip, but it also promotes recycling with the kids, rather than using the garbage. For every ten cartridges that we recycle, we get one tree planted in our name.�

After starting the program in the school in October of 2001, the Monarch Drive was able to raise about $300 it�s first year, which covered the cost of the grade six trip (which is also themed around the environment). Clattenburg says they�re almost at the $350 dollar mark this year already.

Once ThinkGreen gets the cartridges, cleaned, the plastic is melted down, and they�re used for other products.

�If we send them anything that is not on their list of cartridges that can be recycled,� Clattenburg says, �they direct it to a plant, where it can be disposed of properly at a separate waste site, so it�s not thrown in with the typical waste that we would send to the landfills.�

Related links:  Island Ink-Jet, ThinkGreen.com.