Recycling: Making a mint out of muck: Rebuilding cartridges for laser printers is proving a business success. Mary Wilson reports

THE ADAGE 'where there's muck, there's brass' is working well for a small company based in west London. In this case the muck is in the form of the black plastic casings that contain the toner mechanism for laser printers.

There are 1.2 million of these printers in the country, consuming 4.8 million toner cartridges every year. The cartridge holds a photosensitive drum, wiper blade and toner. When the toner runs out, many users just throw the whole thing away - a waste not only of a re-usable product but of money as well. This has not escaped the notice of several companies which have jumped into a printer market that is expanding at 30 per cent a year.

Where LaserArc thinks it is different is in the service it offers. Some competitors just recharge the cartridges without looking at its other components - with the result that customers often return to buying new cartridges. But when the job is done properly, and components are properly overhauled, a customer can save nearly half the price of a new cartridge.

LaserArc was started two years ago by Michael O'Shea. After five years in the Army and five at a merchant bank, he tried a wine business on wheels, without much success. Then he took a page out of his brother's book: 'My brother was already recycling cartridges in East Anglia and seemed to be doing good business. I started in North Kensington with a telephone in one room and a load of cartridges in another. I rang 200 companies a day and soon started to make inroads. My initial strategy was to go to small to medium-sized companies that were paying full price for cartridges. We have always been happy to deliver just one, which many companies won't do.' The company moved last September to its present 1,200 sq ft of space. Today it recycles nearly 1,000 cartridges a month, for such customers as the Ministry of Agriculture, Nestle, Radio 1 and an assortment of one-man bands.

When a toner unit arrives at LaserArc, it is stripped, its parts cleaned or replaced and a longer-life drum is installed and filled with toner. The cartridge is then marked as having been rebuilt, and can be recharged several times before it is relegated to being stripped down for useful components. The recycling takes about 15 minutes, including checks for a perfect print.

Buying a new cartridge costs about pounds 65. LaserArc provides a recharged and rebuilt cartridge for pounds 49.95 when it takes away an empty original; after that they are pounds 39.95 when exchanging for one the company has recharged before. About 60 per cent of LaserArc's business is with small companies that have fewer than six employees.

Mr O'Shea attributes its success to attitude and expectations, both his and those of his team. He doesn't use the words 'staff' or 'employees' when talking about his nine full-timers and one part-timer. He expects them to be bright, keen and ready to help. His ethos is that they are not only in the recycling business but also in the service business. Four work in tele-sales, two drive, and three do the recycling.

The company provides a next-day delivery service and his drivers have to look smart. They are trained to know how a printer works, and when they replace the cartridge will give the printer a wipe over, make sure it is working properly and check to see if any parts need replacing.

There is a hotline for customers who need technical assistance if their printer is playing up.

Recyclers supply about 10 per cent of the market. In the United States, where the business has been going longer, it is about 30 per cent.

Mr O'Shea reckons there are two reasons businesses choose to use the recharged cartridges: they are cheaper, and the process is environmentally friendly. 'If you weigh up the cartridge in your hand, it seems absurd just to throw it away,' he said.

(Photograph omitted)