Brother Industries (U.K.) Ltd celebrates 10 years with Zero Waste to Landfill in Europe

Brother Industries (U.K.) Ltd is celebrating a decade of sending zero waste to landfill in Europe. The market leader is forging the way in sustainable manufacturing, with zero waste being sent to landfill at the Welsh remanufacturing facility since 2013.

In fact, with a sister site Brother Industries (Slovakia) s.r.o also following a zero waste to landfill policy it means Brother’s European remanufacturing programme hasn’t sent anything to landfill for a decade.

This has prevented 35 million toner cartridges¹ from going to landfill, which equates to around 17,500 tons of waste.

In comparison, a staggering 350 million printer cartridges² are disposed of in landfill each year worldwide – with casing which can take up to 1,000 years to decompose.

By recycling cartridges, you can prevent them from ending up in landfill, rubbish dumps and incinerators.

Dedicated to Zero Waste to Landfill

Brother Industries (U.K.) Ltd boasts one of the longest remanufacturing schemes in Europe, collecting used toner cartridges for almost 20 years. This has grown consistently ever since.

From opening their first dedicated remanufacturing facility in 2008 to the European sites being carbon neutral certified, it has been quite a journey.

Both factories now run on a combination of renewable green energy fuelled by solar panels and ground source heating systems²  – something which the team has worked extremely hard to achieve.

How does Zero Waste to Landfill work at Brother Industries (U.K.) Ltd ?

Recycling with Brother Industries (U.K.) Ltd is simple, quick, and completely free. Customers simply send their empty toner or ink cartridges back via one of the approved return methods and Brother does the rest.

Once you return a toner cartridge to Brother it goes through an innovative 150-stage remanufacturing process to ensure each cartridge is as good as new. Anything which can’t be remanufactured, due to damage or wear and tear, is 100% recycled

By disassembling the used toner cartridge, replacing any worn parts, cleaning it, and reassembling Brother can remanufacture 86% of returned toner cartridges, following stringent checks to send them back to customers exactly the same quality as new. By doing this, last year Brother saved around 4,500 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere, the equivalent of taking almost 1,000 cars off the road.

What does Brother Industries (U.K.) Ltd say about Zero Waste to Landfill?

A Brother spokesperson Julian Cooper said: “We understand that sustainability matters to our customers, which is why we are so proud of this ten-year milestone of zero waste to landfill in Europe.

“As a sustainable manufacturer Brother strives to minimise our impact on the planet and it has always been a fundamental part of what we do and what makes us special.

From developing long-lasting, durable products, to ethically recycling or remanufacturing 100% of Original Brother ink and toner cartridges, we are committed to zero waste to landfill and also playing our part in a more sustainable, carbon neutral future.”

You can do your bit for the environment by returning used Original Brother toner and ink cartridges. These will be remanufactured or recycled to ensure no Brother consumables end up in landfills across Europe. 

^{1. To date, Brother has remanufactured 37.58 million toner cartridges across Europe}

^{2. Ground Source Heating system only active in Brother Industries Slovakia}

About Brother
Over 100 years of innovation have gone into making Brother the global business solutions provider that it is today. Founded as Yasui Sewing Machines Co in Japan in 1908 and later renamed to Brother, the company now operates in more than 40 countries around the world. Brother has continually adapted to thrive in an ever-changing marketplace. From managed print services through to printers, scanners and labelling devices. Brother’s products and services are designed to increase efficiency, boost productivity and encourage collaboration in the workplace.