Especially in these days they are an indispensable product for the home office - the ink cartridges. But they usually cause a lot of waste, because once they are empty, they usually end up in the bin. MediaMarktSaturn offers a sustainable solution: the remanufactured ink cartridges from ISY. Sustainability is the top priority for the own brands.

"We are very keen to bring our products to the stores in a sustainable manner and at a good price", explains Nihat Bostanli, Product Manager at Imtron, which as a direct subsidiary of the MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group manages the four own brands PEAQ, ISY, KOENIC and ok. in a total of 14 countries.  

The ink cartridges posed a particular challenge because ordinary cartridges usually end up directly in the household waste after use and are therefore anything but sustainable. The product manager and his team soon realized that cartridges for ink and laser printers are far too good to throw away: They are made of very valuable materials, some of which are expensive to produce and can be easily reused and recycled. This also explains why new disposable cartridges are often very expensive. 

 
The solution is Refill

Since October 1, 2019, Imtron has only been selling remanufactured ink cartridges of its own brand ISY in its online shops and stores. These cartridges can be refilled after use. This is not only sustainable, but also cost-effective, especially for the end user. The process works as follows:  

Customers can simply and conveniently hand in their empty cartridges at all MediaMarkt and Saturn stores via ISY collection boxes and immediately receive a remanufactured cartridge. Imtron ensures that the collected cartridges are remanufactured and the reusable cartridges are refilled. In the end, they are sold again in MediaMarkt and Saturn stores. "If everyone keeps to this, no more cartridges end up in the household waste," says Nihat Bostanli. To remind customers to return the empty cartridges and to make the process as easy as possible for them, there is a reusable empty bag for the used cartridge in every packaging. 

Sustainable packaging

ISY also focuses on sustainability in its packaging: it consists of 100 percent recycled paper, which is produced and processed in Germany. 

A concept only for Germany? Not at all. "We started in Germany with the ISY ink cartridges. But our product range can also be transferred to other countries," explains Nihat Bostanli. The next step is to establish the successful product in Austria, Spain and Hungary. 

The ISY ink cartridges are just one example of sustainability at Imtron. Selected products from Imtron's portfolio are already listed in the EcoTopTen criteria catalogue. The product platform of the independent Öko-Institut evaluates both third-party and own brands according to ecological criteria. The product evaluations are regularly revised - currently, for example, twelve private label models from the TV range and a heat pump dryer are included in the EcoTopTen evaluation. In the long term, the number of products that meet the requirements of the criteria catalogue is to increase.