Virtual exhibition BUSINESS-INFORM 2020-2022

 Alexey Belikov, General Director, CUHDO Ltd.(Russia)

1. How vital is the environmental safety of consumables topic today? Many people share an opinion, that this problem is made-up by European companies as one of the instruments in the competitive activity against cheap Chinese cartridge supplies. 

Competitive activity and marketing fog the true state of things in many fields, but in this topic we have to face the ugly reality that we can touch and measure. Chemical analysis of OEM and hi-quality REMAN consumables shows that these manufacturers fulfill international and state regulations, and unfortunately the same cannot be said of the cheap NBC suppliers. It’s reasonable to understand that extremely low price of such products could not be reached by reducing work force costs (as salaries in China are growing) or by IP investments economy (because mentioned country is now leading in patent applications), so we have to come to a conclusion unfavourable for NBCs that it is about economizing on product quality and material safety, the latter being more attractive as it is even less controlled than quality. One could deny that exceeding POPs and CMRs limits ten or hundred times is dangerous for health and environment – they could as well deny the COVID, the vaccination and the roudness of Earth. 

2. This year RoHS requirements came into effect in Russia, next year there are plans to implement REACH. New ecological regulations can dramatically restrict supplies of cheap Chinese NBCs, that became so popular in Russia in the past years, on the Russian market. What then? Buy more expensive cartridges? And if someone cannot afford it? 

First of all, no one prohibits traditional eco-friendly and economic way of refilling and remanufacturing of empties; used hi-quality cartridges – usually being environmentally safe (and they are not obligatory the used OEM-cartridges only) – can work several cycles (with all necessary reservations). This way will help to save jobs in the Russian remanufacturing industry during the crisis, that will be good for the economy, not to mention that generally remanufacturing generates more added value than box-moving. Finally, all of us remember the times when Chinese NBCs didn’t exist at all, and remanufacturing industry was able to satisfy the demand for the consumables. Secondly, not to be accused of competitive activity in favour of remans, I have to admit that well organized and developed Chinese manufacturers are capable of producing cartridges compliant with ecological safety regulations, but they don’t supply them because of the price competition from cheap toxic product suppliers and because of the attitude of some customers, who are demanding price only to the detriment of environment and safety. The price in question – 1-2 USD per piece – seems not to be that high in comparison with economy from OEM price level (and especially in comparison with impending fines). With growing demand for such products the volumes will reduce this “environmental surgarge” at the end of the day. 

3. As analysis of the Russian market shows, cheap environmentally unfriendly cartridges are offered to a great extent. These are the cartridges popular among Russian consumers, who are absolutely unfamiliar with environmental problems. Who should be responsible for the products present on the Russian market that violate RoHS and REACH prescriptions: producers, suppliers, customs officers? 

The RoHS and REACH directives unequivocally prescribe that it is the producer who is obliged to inform his counterparts about the presence and amount of any dangerous substances in the product (in milder case through MSDS, in more severe – by alerting labelling and hazard pictograms on packaging), subsequently this information must be passed throug the supply chain. Instead, as deplorable experience shows, contaminated product suppliers give their customers some questionable or inadequate safety certificates. Naturally, for supervisory bodies it is easier to fine the local seller, or to block the goods in customs in the best scenario. European practice witnesses that it is very problematic to make the manufactuter responsible (not to think about a foreign laboratory issuing doubtful certificates!). However, in some other fields penalized resellers filed recourse lawsuits against the suppliers. 

4. Which are the most pressing ecological issues that AQCMS and you expert council are facing today? What is similar and different in Russian and European approach towards environmental safety? 

Environmental topics came into sight recently not because of their unimportance but because for many years no one could even imagine that some producers would so manifestly violate existing prescriptions using as a cover questionable certificates or even invalid eco-labelling. Now we get more information every day: it’s not only plastic contaminated with decaBDE, but also VOCs in toner, lead in contacts, cobalt, benzene, naphthalene… (what next? solvent in OPCs?). That’s why our expert council is functioning in tight collaboration with European association ETIRA and scientific community, investigating risks and extent of such violations. One of the main purposes for the council is to educate resellers and end-users of compatible consumables to let them correctly and precisely formulate their demands while dealing with the suppliers. Russian approach towards environmental safety is pretty much the same as in the EU, but due to different government order instruments and measures against lawbreakers in Russiacan be much more severe. 

5. AQCMS is now preparing suggestions for developing the recycling industry in Russia. How actively your expert council is taking part in these projects? 

Remanufacturing industry, already mentioned as a more reasonable and safe alternative to contaminated NBCs, by all means needs support and development that our expert council will help with all available resources. Reuse of cartridges without any doubts reduces the environmental load, while single-use cartridges are disposed to landfill. Of course, even in the field of remanufacturing there are different levels of components quality (and ecological safety as well) – thinking first of all about toner that can have so different price levels. Therefore we have to keep an eye on it too.