Ninety per cent of used printer cartridges in the UAE are thrown away with general waste - even though they should be discarded separately as hazardous materials.
They end up being dumped in landfill sites which has a major damaging effect on the environment, say experts.
Another problem for the industry is the availability of counterfeit cartridges. And, ironically, it is companies who promise to recycle or reuse old ones that feed the production of fakes.
This was revealed by Habiba Al Marashi, who chairs the Emirates Environmental Group, at a conference at the American University of Sharjah.
She said her organisation's drive to collect empty cartridges had been hampered in recent years by companies offering to buy the waste from businesses and consumers.
And industry representatives agreed. They said there were legitimate companies that buy the waste, and recycle or 'remanufacture' it. But other firms take the empty cartridges, refill them with ink and sell them as originals.
Other fakes were produced from scratch by companies - usually based in Asia - that copied products in violation of patent laws.
Khalil El Dalu, General Manager of Epson Middle East, said: "If you go back several years, fakes were available in very large quantities. But with the help of the UAE government the number has been reduced." Seven years ago, 70 per cent of cartridges sold were counterfeit, he said. But the figure had dropped to 20 per cent.
But Dr Sassan Dieter Khatib-Shahidi, Managing Director of German Imaging Technologies, said the proportion of counterfeits in the market could be as high as 60 per cent. He also claimed fakes were "usually made in China".
Khatib-Shahidi's company legitimately remanufactures cartridges and sells them at a discounted price. He said that concerns about counterfeits had caused some big companies to switch to remanufactured products rather than use original ones.
"We have had many major corporate customers who say they come to us because at least they know the source of the goods," he said.
The experts said the packaging of fakes was becoming more convincing.
Wendy Lindley, of Cartridge World, an Al Barsha-based company that legitimately refills cartridges, said: "These days the makers are getting a bit more sophisticated - the boxes look perfect." But even if the outward appearance is improving, the performances of the cartridges are not.
The problem, said Lindley, was each printer was created to work with a specific type of ink, depending on the particular brand and particular model of the machine.
"You cannot put in a different ink and expect it to work properly," she added.
By Vesela Todorova
© Emirates Today 2007
