Cartridge King
Recycling and re-manufacturing of Toners and Cartridges, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
This project started in 2009. Summary:
Per annum at least 4,800,000 cartridges and toners are imported into Ethiopia. Duties are extremely high and recycling and remanufacturing of cartridges in a responsible way is non-existent.
The clear innovation proposed in this project is a professional and viable cartridge and toner recycling facility equipped with specialized machinery for refurbishment and testing.
Update 2022: unfortunately due to the war in Ethiopia they factory is running on a smaller capacity.
Recycling locally and employment
The significant need for affordable cartridges and toners in Ethiopia, a shortage of foreign currency to pay for imports, very high duties and taxes on imports (49 to 55%!) and the fact that the bulk ends up in the garbage and environment is a perfect opportunity to start up this project. It will take considerable effort to create awareness and overcome the bad reputation of “second hand” goods. This pilot project was successfully finalized in 2013 under the PSI grant programme (50% subsidy) and is still operating in Addis (2022).
