A PETITION with 50,000 signatures has been handed to 10 Downing Street by David Parkinson, head of the growing Harrogate-based Cartridge World empire.

He was accompanied by sympathetic MPs who are also calling on the Government to put an end to the 32 million printer cartridges that are sent to landfill or are incinerated every year.

Mr Parkinson launched his "refill not landfill" campaign because he believes that the Government is wrongly interpreting the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, designed to ensure that electrical items such as printers must be recycled.

The Department of Trade and Industry says that printing cartridges are classed as "consumables" and therefore do not have to be recycled.

But, says Mr Parkinson, the decision directly threatens his franchise business which began in the UK in Harrogate, spread to York, with branches in Clifton, Tadcaster Road and Hull Road and blossomed into a 200-outlet venture thriving on a service which provides ink refills at roughly half the cost of new cartridges.

Intensifying the threat both to his business and the environment is that cartridge manufacturers are now embedding their products with "killer chips."

Mr Parkinson said: "These microchips kill the cartridge once the ink is used. We have had to find ways of overcoming this by resetting the chip or replacing it and that costs money."

It also means up to eight million extra printer cartridges ending up being incinerated or buried each year.

Phil Willis, Harrogate's LibDem MP, accompanied Mr Parkinson to Downing Street. He said: "Once again, the Government is missing the point. Such a simple measure could make a huge difference.

"The 55,000 signatures show just how important this issue is. The Government cannot ignore the campaign any longer."

Also with them was Norman Baker, the LibDem's shadow environment secretary. He said: "Every year six million gallons of oil are used to replace the cartridges that end up in landfill sites or incinerators. That oil need not be used and is wasting valuable resources.

James Purnell, Labour MP for Staleybridge and Hyde was also at the petition hand-in.

Updated: 10:59 Monday, February 16, 2004