RCUBE RECYCLING PRIVATE LIMITED

In their own words

We have come up with a process that can recycle 100% of printer cartridge waste without any use for the incineration process. In the current scenario, the process which is adopted by the recyclers for recycling cartridge waste ensures 85%-90% of the recovery, and the remaining 10%-15% is disposed of using the incineration process. Almost all the recyclers all over the world face the problem of recycling printer cartridges as the revenue which is generated by the recyclers is mostly from the recovery of precious and semi-precious metals from the waste. But, in printer cartridge waste the quantity of semi-precious metals is very less and the revenue that is generated from this metals are utilized for incinerating the residue i.e., the toner powder inside the cartridges, that leads to no profit or very little profit for the recyclers which makes it difficult to cover the cost of processing. Our developed process not only recycles 100% of the cartridges but also develop products from the waste discarded cartridges that are import substitute for the printing industry. Products like P.C.R., Toner Powders, and Developer Rollers are imported from China and our refurbished products are the perfect alternative to these imported products in terms of quality and price. Our refurbished products were able to support the Indian cartridge consumable market in this tough Corona time when the manufacturing in China was stopped. During this tough time, the Indian market along with us realize the urgent need for shifting dependency on Chinese manufacturers for our printing consumable needs. We aim at providing printer cartridge waste recycling solutions to other recyclers domestic as well as international. To prevent recyclers from diverting their printer cartridge waste to the landfill or to the unorganized sector and to encourage them for collecting printer cartridge waste, we will provide monetary incentives to the recyclers which will be more than what they make as a profit after processing it. Innovation is in the recycling process and in the refurbished product which we produce from the waste cartridges. In 2020, it is estimated that India will generate about 5.2 million tonnes of e-waste, and printer cartridges contribute about 12% of total e-waste, which brings to about 62 crore kg of printer cartridge waste just in India. It is increasing at a CAGR of 30% every year. We tried connecting with some recyclers from India, Sri Lanka, U.S.A., U.A.E., Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal, Bhutan, and Nigeria to know their way of treating printer cartridge waste and we were shocked to know that most of them were directly diverting the collected discarded cartridge waste to landfill. We even tried to know if they are interested in supplying their cartridge waste to us for recycling in return of certain incentives and they agreed on that. We even questioned e-Stewards Enterprises, a well known international institute in the e-waste recycling industry, about printer cartridge recycling process. Bob Akers, Enterprise Director of e-Stewards Enterprise replied to our question mentioning “Ravi Ravariya, Great question about printer cartridges. Printer cartridges, for the most part, are not considered e-waste. Some do have small chips. What we have seen is that they become a massive problem for our recyclers as they take up space and provide no revenue or very little revenue. The market shifts so quickly that it is difficult to find a good revenue positive channel. We have allowed our certified recyclers to use the solid waste channel if no other viable options are available.” By this, it clearly indicates the need for our recycling service at the international level. Further, we tried to connect with Bob Akers on Linkedin and requested him to help us to connect with the certified recyclers registered under their institute and he agreed on supporting us. We are not only aiming at recycling printer cartridge waste and encouraging recyclers not to divert it to the landfills but also to reduce the imports of certain products that can be made available in India by using the waste without compensating with the quality and making our nation self-dependent for our needs.

Written by the company on its public Startup India profile. Not verified by us.