Campus Ink Is Eco Friendly Economical And Humanitarian

Christopher Carmichael won the national Wes Nicol Entrepreneurial Award in a competition against students from Acadia University, Carleton University, University of Guelph, University of Ottawa, and the University of Waterloo. His company, Campus Ink provides competitively priced ink cartridge refills, using a portion of the proceeds ($1 per refill) to invest in businesses in developing countries through Kiva.

Campus Ink, currently at seven colleges in Canada, refills cartridges up to 10 times fasting than current refilling processes that can take up to 30 minutes. The unique process consists of sonic sound cartridge head cleaning and a delicate refilling method that amounts to only a few minutes of your time. Refilling ink cartridges is an eco-friendly alternative to disposing of them in landfills where they take up to 450 years to decompose. Campus Ink's site reports that in North America alone 350 million cartridges are tossed into landfills annually.

Campus Ink is not without competitors; many large companies refill and provide a broader service offering. The college startup is competing on price, time and location. It can offer lower prices because their costs of physical and human capital are significantly lower--students are cheaper to employ, hosting the services on university campuses reduces rent expenses and marketing is cheaper and more viral within college communities. Campus Ink's refilling process decreases time waiting by approximately 75% and the proximity of refill locations also saves time for consumers.

For all of you Canadian college students out there, make sure to see if there is a Campus Ink location near you. Save money, time, the environment and communities in developing nations.