Access Computer makes move to Loveland

LOVELAND — Access Computer Products Inc. is moving south to accommodate growth.

The Fort Collins company, which supplies used printer cartridges to remanufacturers, plans to relocate this summer to a new plant in Loveland.

Currently, Access Computer occupies 15,000 square feet in five different buildings near the Fort Collins Downtown Airport in northeast Fort Collins.

“We like Fort Collins, but Loveland was where the land was available,´ said company president Joe Goodell.

Goodell established Access Computer Products in Fort Collins in 1987, selling empty printer cartridges to remanufacturers. The industry was in its infancy.

“When we first started out, we’d have to call 20 companies to find one that had a laser printer. Now everybody has them,” he said.

The company receives about 50,000 empty inkjet and 30,000 empty laser cartridges every month. Nearly 70 employees sort and repackage them to be shipped to remanufacturers, who refill and resell them for 40 percent to 60 percent less than the cost of new cartridges.

Original equipment manufacturers have always been at odds with the remanufacturers who cut into their market share. Over the years some have tried to squeeze the remanufacturers out of the industry by developing one-use cartridges, refill-it-yourself versions or making design changes that force remanufacturers to make adjustments.

But the industry continues to grow.

“We don’t have any problem selling empties,” Goodell said. “People wish they could get every cartridge we have. We could sell a lot more if we could just get more empties.”

Apparently, plenty of empty cartridges escape Goodell’s grasp — nearly 300 million cartridges end up in landfills across the globe, according to Recharger, an industry journal.

“Most people want to recycle, but they don’t know where to take it,” Goodell said. “We want to make it convenient to recycle.”

To that end, Access Computer Products developed a fund-raising program for schools called Cartridges for Kids. About 4,500 schools across the country earn money when students bring in old cartridges from their parents’ businesses or from home. Goodell said the company receives about 400 boxes a day from schools.

O’Dea Elementary in Fort Collins has participated in the program for at least three years.

Pam Thompson, media specialist for the school, said it earns at least $25 per month through the program.

“It’s fabulous,” Thompson said. “They come and pick them up, and they get the checks to us really quickly.”

For schools that are not in the area, Access Computer Products pays for the shipping.

In the spring of 2002, Access Computer Products began accepting used cell phones, most of which are resold in South America.

Goodell said that it’s particularly important to keep cell phones out of the landfills because of toxic components including arsenic, copper, lead, nickel and zinc.

“We want to make sure people aren’t keeping old cell phones in their desk drawers,” Goodell said. “Because of the quickly changing market, they end up being worth nothing before long.”

In fact, there are about 8,000 useless cell phones stored at the company’s warehouse. Goodell said he has made arrangements with a company that will recycle them, but his company won’t receive any money for them.

“We’re trying to keep these things out of the landfills,” he said.

As people become more environmentally conscious, the remanufacturing industry continues to grow, and Access Computer Products is a prime example.

In 2002, the company’s revenues reached $7 million, and Goodell is projecting $12 million as a conservative estimate for sales in 2003.

In addition to the new headquarters in Loveland, the company maintains an office in Utah. Access Computer opened a new warehouse in California in October and another in Alabama in late January.

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