Re-feel franchise stores hit a century

With biodegradable
cartridges gaining momentum, backed by an environment-conscious
consumer base sweeping the market since 2007, Re-feel, in its
endeavor to crack open the 'green' segment, has opened 107 franchise
stores across 77 locations in India. The company is also planning to
open 250 stores by 2011 and may venture into direct marketing at
consumer level.

The Kolkata-based
manufacturer, in a bid to revolutionize the recycling industry, has
claimed to have saved over 4.5 lakh cartridges from going into the
landfills. “At Re-feel, we use a nine-step scientific refilling
process that starts from collecting empty inkjet cartridges, manual
inspection, electronic inspection, flushing out old ink, ink filling,
manual test, print test, packaging and delivery,” said Samit
Lakhotia, Director-Business Development, Re-feel Cartridge
Engineering.

Further, the company
declared that the present size of the cartridge market is estimated
at Rs 3,000 crore where Re-feel holds a share of 35 percent in the
'organized refillers' segment. The company started off with a
warehouse in Kolkata and then ventured into Mumbai. Now, the company
is considering plans to set up warehouses in Delhi and Bengaluru.

Estimates undertaken by
Re-feel have shown that every new cartridge manufacturing requires
3.4 liter of oil. Hence, on an average, recycling of cartridges could
save 4.3 million liters of oil in one year. The company also declared
that, toner dust contains hazardous materials and inkjet cartridges
contain chemicals that can harm the environment. When these
cartridges are disposed off in a landfill over time, chemicals can
leach into the groundwater and pollute the environment. Moreover, the
plastics and metals used in manufacturing cartridges originate from
non-renewable resources.

“At Re-feel, we always
try and give high-quality toner or ink. Hence the re-manufactured
cartridges contain high-quality components that give excellent
printing results. More than five million companies around the world
already rely on these quality products for their daily printing needs
as well as for their most important projects,” Lakhotia concluded.