More details have emerged about the programme, which appears to be taking cartridges from the market and away from potential use as remanufactured cartridges. The project’s members are now reportedly considering expanding into other Asian nations.

The project includes Epson, Brother, Canon, Dell, HP and Lexmark, and began in 2008. The cartridge collection programme takes empties from more than 4,500 collection boxes across Japan to Epson's Mizube facility.

The Bangkok Post reports that once sent to the plant, "spent Epson cartridges are given a new life by being transformed into items such as pens, bottles, wheel chocks and packaging containers", whilst other cartridges are "returned to the respective manufacturer for recycling."

The newspaper reports that there are incentives for customers who recycle their cartridges, such as shopping points. But an environmental concern is that the cartridges appear to have been removed from the market in the country for destruction rather than remanufacturing.
Epson states that "between 500,000 and 700,000 used cartridges are sent in by schools each month" alone, and the article mentions that the OEM has "started donating 3 yen (1 baht) for every one of its cartridges recycled to the United Nations Environment Programme." It says that the money will be used to promote biodiversity and "the three Rs" - reduce, reuse, recycle.

Akihiko Sakai, a member of the board of directors for Epson, said the company plans to expand its homecoming project to a number of major cities in the Asia-Pacific region, including Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, Taipei, Seoul and Sydney. Epson (Thailand) is reportedly earmarked as the next location for the project later in 2011.