The movement to quash the sale of single-use, new-build printer cartridges has found a friend in the City of Los Angeles, which late last month passed a resolution that would support any legislation or administrative action that would ban the import and sale of these foreign-produced aftermarket cartridges, as they cannot be recycled or remanufactured.
Absent legislation, however, the action is but a warning shot in what is likely to be an ongoing battle, possibly for years to come.
Los Angeles city council passed the resolution, originally filed last September, by an 8-0 margin. The measure is part and parcel of a trend toward ridding the nation’s landfills of unrecyclable materials. Many states have enacted laws that have targeted single-use plastic straws, disposable bags and other non-reusable plastics/materials that have burdened landfills and pockmarked city streets.
One of the champions of the movement is Clover Imaging Group, which prides itself on producing environmentally-friendly remanufactured ink and toner cartridges. Clover is rallying support behind eliminating the single-use cartridges; a page on its website encourages clients to take action by contacting their local government to spread the word about the negative impact non-recyclable materials have on the environment.
“In fifteen minutes, you can let your officials know about the negative environmental impact of these cartridges, but also about the positive impact of using remanufactured cartridges and the North American jobs they represent,” one passage on the dedicated page read.
The L.A. resolution cited statistics that show more than 375 million plastic ink and toner printer cartridges are thrown away annually, equaling 150 million pounds of plastic waste. This is largely attributed to the growing volume of imported aftermarket, new-build, single-use cartridges that cannot be recycled due to both the materials and manufacturing process involved. Such materials can take as long as 1,000 years to decompose, the resolution cited.
The resolution is only a first step, however, requiring legislation on a broader scale to truly curb the harmful environmental impact of single-use plastics. But given the momentum behind the enacted bans on plastic bags, straws, et al., one-time use printer cartridges are in danger of becoming verboten on a larger scale in the not-too-distant future.
