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The manufacturing process involved in making new toner cartridges requires the burning of fossil fuel, specifically oil or natural gas. On average, three quarts of oil are burned to make each new toner cartridge shell. In 1997 some 71 million toner cartridges were shipped, but only 30% were remanufactured, the rest were thrown away. In 2006 some 257 million toner cartridges were shipped, only 26% were remanufactured, the rest were thrown away.

As an industry, our ecological contribution is staggering. At our current rate of production, we remanufacture more than 67 million toner cartridges each year, and keep 105,000 tons of plastic and scrap metal out of landfills. We save taxpayers more than 4-1/2  million dollars each year in landfill expenses. The combined savings realized from landfill and oil costs is more than $200 million per year.

Just mention the words Exxon Valdez, 1989, and images of Alaska's Prince William Sound, oil-soaked sea otters struggling to cling to life, dead and dying birds, and frantic hordes of people trying in vain to save the coastline are all to vivid and equally horrifying. In that one environmental death blow, 10.9 million gallons of oil was spilled. It was the worst in United States history and in a matter of hours created a cataclysm for indigenous wildlife that will rock the foundation of life as we know it for centuries to come. The volume of the oil spill was staggering and the negative impact incalculable.

Using that same figure of 10.9 million gallons of oil as a positive, in just 3 months of each year, the remanufacturing industry conserves more oil than the 10.9 million gallons that spilled into Prince William Sound.

As a Nation our environmental problems and tendency toward waste of resources is a national disgrace. We are just now beginning to realize that our government has failed to address these problems and the only way to solve them is at the user level.