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The EC are looking to implement a new directive which if comes into force in its current state will sound the end for remanufactured inkjet cartridges..

The directive called the WEEE (The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) comes into force August 2004 and will allow manufacturers to put a chip on cartridges to prevent cartridges being refilled.

Should the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) classify cartridges as consumables, rather than electrical waste, the result will be empty cartridges being dumped in landfill sites.

The directive will make it more difficult (if not impossible) to recycle inkjet cartridges and it will destroy the inkjet cartridge recycling industry in the UK.  If these new regulations come into force, then consumers could miss out, resulting in  being forced to pay even more for original cartridges.
 

So far the UK seems to have decided not to include cartridges under the weee directive which comes into force in August 2004, and will be implemented in August 2005.

Watch this space…..