I think everyone should be using to recycle ink cartridges! Why not? The quality is the same, and you can get savings of up to fifty percent discount. However, most important is our environment! There are millions of ink cartridges bought every year and only 10-15 percent are recycled at present. Whenever you finish a inkjet cartridge you can drop into an office supply store or to obtain an envelope for recycling. Even Best Buy has a bin that you can drop on them to be recycled. I use hp and with each new cartridge you get an envelope to mail you used cartridge for recycling, I like that, it even pre-paid shipping! So the use of recycle ink cartridges is a win!
The quality of a recycles ink cartridge is the same as the new ink cartridge?
Most manufacturers use only high quality inks that are specifically for inkjet cartridges.
It must ensure the quality of printing, see the policy before you buy. Will I receive the same number of print pages with a remanufactured cartridge? All recycled cartridges have a fixed amount of ink to begin their life and determines the printing capacity. Each cartridge is weighed for the correct amount of ink during the process and re-checked for quality control.
Process of Recycling Ink Cartridges
What to do when they are empty?
The warning light of the printer flashes and the last documents to print is steak or faded. Clearly, it is time to replace the ink cartridge. With the empty ink tank in hand, the natural next step is to throw it out. Don’t. It is both environmentally and economically advantageous to recycle the cartridge.
Simple ways to recycle
Most users have inkjet printers, which use small tanks filled with liquid ink. Instead of discarding them, the deposits can be easily filled. Walgreens, the national pharmacy chain, for example, offers ink cartridges refill at stores for the most major brands. The price of refill varies by location but generally is 50 percent to 60 percent cheaper than buying a new cartridge. Staples, the national retailer of office supplies, offers discounts to customers who bring their empty ink cartridges to the store to buy a new tank.
How do you recycle?
When you turned to fill an inkjet cartridge a needle is inserted into each color tank, which removes excess ink and dries the tank. Next, ink is loaded into the cartridge.
Laser’s cartridges are treated differently. Laser’s ink is dry powder, which mixes the paper when heated. Recycling Centers receive these cartridges, clean the excess ink and check the cartridges for the damage. The new parts are inserted if the damage is repairable and cartridges are refilled. We are checked and, if passed, are packaged and sold as reconditioned or remanufactured ink cartridges, often at great discounts over new cartridges.
What Are the Benefits of Recycling Ink Cartridges?
Recycling ink cartridges is better for the environment, but there are other benefits to recycling your ink cartridges as well.
Refilling empty cartridges conserves landfill space, reduces greenhouse gases and conserves raw materials. The manufacture of each new cartridge involves 3 ounces of oil and other raw materials and produces greenhouse gases in the process, according to Planet Green. One of the benefits of recycling ink cartridges is saving 400,000 tons of plastic and metal from entering U.S. landfills each year. Recycling 100,000 cartridges saves 9,599 kilograms of aluminum, 1 million liters of oil and 40 tons of plastic.
Reduction in Volatile Organic Compounds
Traditional ink cartridges contain petroleum-based ink, which emits volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as the ink dries, according to the Department of General Services, California (DGS). The VOCs form smog at low atmospheric levels. In contrast, soy-based ink cartridges do not emit VOCs and remove greenhouse gases. Made available for use with laser printers in 2008 by PRC Technologies, recycled soy-based ink cartridges should soon be offered by more manufacturers.
Saving Money
Using recycled ink cartridges can cut costs. The DGS says recycled cartridges cost 30 to 50 percent less than new cartridges and often hold 20 percent more ink. Depending on the model, some cartridge recycling programs accept used cartridges or buy them back. Most large office supply chains, such as Staples, Office Depot and Office Max, provide consumers with a store credit for each empty ink cartridge return, according to “Earth Talk.”
Earning Money
Recycle ink cartridges can help raise funds for organizations and create jobs. The benefits of recycle ink cartridges include taking advantage of special buy-back offers. Schools, churches and other nonprofit can collect cartridges from individuals and businesses and earn money for their cause. Also, the purchase and recycling of ink cartridges help the economy. The ink remanufacturing business employs thousands of people, according to Inkguides.com.
Misconceptions
It is important to buy recycle ink cartridges from companies that guarantee their products will not damage your printer. In the 1990s, disreputable ink cartridge remanufactures used a “drill and fill” approach to recycling ink cartridges, which ended up creating a poor-quality product. Today, most reputable companies disassemble, clean and reassemble ink cartridges. The DGS says that remanufactured ink cartridges perform “as well as, or better than,” new ink cartridges, provided, they are from reputable companies that implement good quality control.