Brother
Three toner cartridges and a trail of cartridges which make up a picture of the earth on a purple background
  1. Home Brother
  2. About Brother
  3. Environment & Sustainability
  4. Market Leading Toner Recycling

Sustainability matters to us:

We understand that sustainability matters, which is why minimising our impact on the planet has always been a fundamental part of what we do and why we have a global team that, with your help, make that happen. From developing long-lasting, durable products, to ethically remanufacturing or recycling 100% of the Brother cartridges you send back to us, our ‘Green Team’ have been helping us all be more sustainable for almost two decades. 

But we want to make an even bigger impact, and with you by our side, we can. Our promise to you is simple. Send us back your used cartridges, and we will make sure 100% of them are remanufactured or recycled to the highest quality. That way, together, we can continue to strive towards a more sustainable, carbon neutral future. 

Thank you for being at our side! 

Our story so far:

Recycling image with three arrows with 40,000,000 written underneath in purple

Cartridges remanufactured or recycled

On average we remanufacture or recycle 3 million toner cartridges every year - enough to fill 4 Olympic sized swimming pools.

Purple image with the words CO2 in a circle with arrows pointing to a tree

Carbon neutral processes

By remanufacturing 86% of our cartridges we save around 5,300 tonnes of CO2 every year - equivalent to taking 1,150 cars off the road.

0% written in white on a purple waste bin

Zero waste to landfill

Our European recycling facilities have been zero waste to landfill accredited since 2013 - stopping 1,500 tonnes of material from ending up in landfill every year.

Recycle your toners for free

Recycle today

Our remanufacturing history:

18 years of remanufacturing, and counting

We have been collecting used toner cartridges for almost 20 years, giving us one of the oldest remanufacturing schemes in Europe, and it has grown consistently every year since we started.

From opening our first dedicated remanufacturing facility in 2008 to our European remanufacturing facilities being carbon neutral accredited in 2021, it is a journey we are incredibly proud of.

Here is our remanufacturing history so far!

Our remanufacturing process:

Loop on a purple background with wording 14% recycled, zero waste, 86% remanufactured and 100% performance with a Brother toner cartridge

The closed loop

Brother has been operating a Circular Economy for toner collection for several years. Our closed loop recycling process means that we collect any Brother waste toner cartridges, and reuse or recycle them to make new ones, with nothing going to landfill.

Our cartridges go through a fully circular process, and our plastics don't contain any hazardous additives meaning we can remanufacture them over and over again. 

This approach enables us to remanufacture or recycle 100% of all returned Brother toner cartridges.

Our market-leading remanufacturing process

When you return a toner cartridge to us, it goes through a 150 stage remanufacturing process to ensure that each remanufactured cartridge is the same quality as new. Anything we can’t remanufacture – due to damage or wear and tear – is 100% recycled.

It is this highly innovative process that means we can remanufacture 86% of toner cartridges Brother customers return to us. This means we can take a used toner cartridge. Disassemble it. Replace any worn parts. Clean it. Reassemble. And send it back to our customers as good as new.

And this process can happen again, and again and again, giving you products of the highest quality, with as little impact on our planet as possible.

Aerial photograph of recycling factory buildings

Striving to support a healthier planet

We have our own dedicated Brother operated factories in the UK and Slovakia, built so we can take complete control of the remanufacturing and recycling of toner cartridges sent back to us by customers from across Europe.

Both factories are carbon neutral accredited and run on green energy produced by solar panels and ground source heating systems – a feat our team have worked extremely hard to achieve. And we want to go even further.

That is why our ‘Green Team’ across Europe work tirelessly to continually improve our approach to remanufacturing, ensuring it is as energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly as possible.

Two people holding boxes and a toner cartridge in the middle

Let's do it together

 

Recycling with Brother is simple to do and completely free. All you have to do is send your empties back to us via one of our return methods, and we will do the rest. Currently we remanufacture around 3 million cartridges per year, but we want to do more. 

Together, with your ongoing support, we can continue to produce sustainable products, whilst also protecting and minimising the impact on our planet.

Recycle your Brother supplies

Series of wind turbines on a green hill with blue sky and clouds

65% less emissions by 2030

We believe sustainability is about more than recycling and operating responsibly; it's an opportunity to support the communities we're a part of and to have a positive impact on the world.

 

Environment & Sustainability

Words Cool Earth written in white with two red parrots and rainforest in the background

How Brother customers have helped

We have been donating to Cool Earth through our recycling programme since 2009, supporting some of our most endangered habitats across the globe. Here are some of the recent projects you have helped us support.

 

Discover our initiatives with Cool Earth