Brother: Recycled toner cartridges reach 40 million, will focus on inkjet and equipment products

Recycling Times Report/Since 2004, Brother Company has been the first to implement the toner cartridge recycling program in Europe. To date, Brother claims to have recycled/remanufactured 40 million toner cartridges worldwide. That's enough to travel from the brothers' global recycling technology center in Wales to their headquarters in Nagoya, Japan.

According to reports, of the 40 million recycled toner cartridges, 86% were remanufactured using the company's market-leading process. Every toner cartridge goes through a rigorous inspection process, and parts are either re-used or replaced. This means that most toner cartridges can be remanufactured and sold like new. Any parts that can no longer be used are recycled by Brother, ensuring absolutely nothing ends up in landfill.


In 2021, Brother says its remanufactured toner cartridges have a 33% lower carbon footprint than new ones. Through remanufacturing, Brother saves approximately 5,300 tons of carbon dioxide emissions globally each year.

Worldwide, Brother customers can return empty toner cartridges free of charge through the website to one of Brother's four remanufacturing facilities in Wales, Slovakia, the United States or Asia.

Over the next three years, Brother plans to increase the number of toner cartridges we remanufacture, and also focus on recycling inkjet and equipment so that all Brother products can be recycled from customers.