THINK GREEN

ENVIRONMENT             Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

By recycling or reusing your inkjet and toner cartridges helps to reduce the impact of millions of cartridges that are thrown away and that end up in landfills each year. By making this choice, you are helping to protect the future of our environment. This proactive solution to waste reduction is a win/win for consumers, entrepreneurs and the environment. Every cartridge refilled means one less cartridge in our landfills.Recycling cartridges is environmentally friendly and you can feel good about supporting sustainable development for the planet’s limited natural resources and not adding to our already overloaded landfills.With continued commitment to recycle printer cartridges, we can look forward to the day when recycling cartridges is as common as separating waste material in our homes for the recycle bins.

How Many Times Can You Refill A Cartridge?

Most Cartridges can be refilled at least ten times. It depends on the type of cartridge you have. Cartridges with the print head built in generally can be refilled 10 - 15 times or more. Cartridges without the print head in them in theory can be refilled infinitely, however other factors can affect this such as drying out. There are ways you can prolong the life of your cartridge so that you get as many refills as you can for maximum savings!

• Never let a cartridge run dry (cartridges with built in print heads can burn out their resistors if run while dry) . Always keep the extra cartridge full.
• Get in the habit of topping off your cartridge instead of waiting until it runs out.
• Don't touch the copper plate on print head cartridges
• Always refill your cartridge IMMEDIATELY upon running out of ink.

Re-manufactured: These were the original “re-mans”. We call them “drill and fill” because this method requires hole being drilled into the used empty toner hopper and then closed with duct-tape or a plug after being re-filled with new toner! They are usually put together by individuals in small shops. After about 5 refills the cartridge is discarded.

Pros: Cheap, cheap, cheap! Cons: Old parts do not seal well! There is a tendency for seals to leak toner and streaking on the page to occur due to old dry wiper blades. EXPECTED FAILURE RATE: 3 - 5 PERCENT!

“Value Recycled” (sold by most re-sellers): Here, the original toner hoppers are opened, cleaned and reused and “certain parts” are replaced. The remaining parts are cleaned and reused. The drum may either be taken out and re-surfaced or replaced with a substitute or may just be cleaned and reused. The wiper blades may or may not be replaced depending on who is doing it

Pros/Cons: Good manufacturing technique will give you mostly clean, non-leaking product. These are more consistent but also more expensive than the “Re-manufactured”. However, if economy shortcuts are taken during their construction, they could leak toner and streak copy. EXPECTED FAILURE RATE: 3 - 5 PERCENT!

Premium “COMPATIBLE” Toner: Starting with cleaned, “used only once” toner cartridges, the manufacturer replaces all of the critical parts (up to 80% of all parts) with “OEM new”! These include a new OEM drum, new wiper blades, OEM SEALS, and rollers. The hopper is then filled with electronically measured premium toner prior to being sealed and packaged for shipment.

Pros: These are manufactured in modern ISO Certified manufacturing facilities with on-going quality controls. A percentage of each batch (pallet) is tested on real printers prior to being released. This eliminates most initial installation problems and all shipped cartridges meet or exceed NEW OEM cartridge specifications. (Yes, they cost a bit more!)

Cons: Few! These provide a “no complaint” product at about 30 to 50 percent under OEM retail. They compete well with NEW OEM cartridges in quality of print, longevity and consistency. FAILURE RATE IS LESS THAN ONE PERCENT! SAME AS NEW OEM CARTRIDGES ! !

HP Recycled Content

HP acknowledges that HP Laser Jet print cartridges meet or exceed the recovered materials and post-consumer material content requirements established under the Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPGs) program managed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This representation is based on the use of materials and designated parts selectively recovered through HP’s return and recycling program and/or the recovered content contained in aluminum and ferrous metal cartridge parts as determined using market-wide averages for recovered content in those metals. The amount of recovered materials in HP Laser Jet cartridges varies. Based on the characteristics mentioned above, HP estimates Original HP Laser Jet cartridges contain approximately 20% or more recovered material per the CPG definition.

1. Power off.

2. Power down.

Disable screensavers on computers and allow idle computers to power down into hibernate or sleep mode if you are going to be away from your desk for an extended period of time during work hours.

3. Unscrew the office.

4. Better quench for thirst.

5. Recycle.

This is the most obvious and, though it may be done at home, it is often forgotten at the office. Depending on the recycling services in your area, have bins for paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, and aluminum. In addition, have an e-waste bin for electronics such as old cellphones, chargers, DVDs, CDs, Inkjet cartridges, and computers. Often these items can be refurbished or harvested for parts.

6. Buy recycled.

Purchase office supplies, particularly paper, that are made from recycled contents. Most major office supply stores carry a large selection of recycled products but recycled products can also be ordered from on-line companies.
 Have your products delivered to the office to cut down on your driving. Indoff  carries a full line of recycled and remanufactured office products and will deliver for free.

7. Ride share.

RECYCLE.RECYCLE.RECYCLE.