LOCAL charities fear a significant loss of income if multinational printer companies start to use killer chips' to prevent the recycling of used ink cartridges.

A number of schools, as well as other fund-raising groups collect the cartridges to boost their income in Eden. Charities like Actionaid raise cash by collecting old printer cartridges from homes and offices, passing them to local firms who refill them for sale at a fraction of the price of new products.

But the recycling companies believe that major American and Japanese manufacturers, who gain most of their income not from the sale of printers but from the ink cartridges used in them, are set to introduce electronic devices known as killer chips' which prevent a refilled cartridge from working.

Intended originally to give information to computer users about ink levels in printer cartridges, patents have now been taken out for devices intended to prevent the equipment's operation if the cartridges have been refilled.

Cumbrian Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Chris Davies gave the recyclers a boost when he secured changes to an EU law on electrical waste to prevent the use of devices which make recycling difficult. But now Government ministers are claiming that printer cartridges are exempt because they are not electrical devices in their own right but consumables' like paper.

Laura Heywood, Secretary of UKCRA (UK Cartridge Remanufacturing Association) claims that the cost of a new printer cartridge can be up to four times more than the price of one that has been refurbished and refilled with ink.

She said: "If these devices are permitted there will be a huge impact on the thousands of firms across Britain that recycle printer cartridges. Our work will be impossible or seriously impeded at best."

Jason Gearing, from ActionAid, says that collecting empty toner cartridges and inkjets earns his charity alone more than £200,000 each year.

But the MEP has hopes of closing the legal loophole by securing changes to an EU law on product design later this year.

He commented: "There was support from all parties in the European Parliament when we fought the first battle and I am confident that we can secure it again. This is a war we shall win in the end, but it is one we should not have to fight at all."

His efforts are supported by environmental charity Friends of the Earth, which argues that re-filling cartridges is cheaper for consumers and better for the environment.

FoE spokesperson Claire Wilton said: "The Government could easily include cartridges in the UK regulations that will implement the new EU waste law, but it is simply refusing to do so. Friends of the Earth supports Chris Davies and the other MEPs who are not giving up this fight."

Recycling companies specialising in refurbishing and refilling printer cartridges are said to employ 20,000 people across Europe, with many charities running schemes to encourage the collection of used equipment. They claim to be fighting a constant battle against the efforts of manufacturers to frustrate them.