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Toner, Ink-Jet and Ribbon Cartridges
The ease of producing quality print through photocopying or with a laser jet is achieved by the use of the toner cartridge. About 80% of the toner cartridges used in laser printers contain not only the toner but a complex system of delicate parts and one particular cartridge in regular use contains 135 components. By replacing all these parts each time the toner runs out maintenance costs are reduced and reliability improved.
However, an expensive, carefully engineered product is wasted and over the average life time of a laser printer the cost of replacement toner cartridges can total seven times the original cost of the machine itself. Two million toner cartridges are thrown out each year in the UK, producing nearly 3,000 tonnes of waste.
Refilling the cartridges is not the answer, because of their complexity, but there are many companies now who remanufacture them. This involves stripping down the empty cartridges, cleaning each component after inspection for signs of wear, reassembling, with new parts if necessary, and filling with toner. About 100,000 cartridges are remanufactured annually. Apart from the saving in landfill space, recycling cartridges reduces the need for raw materials, particularly oil which is used to make the plastic. Some major companies who supply laser printers accept back their own cartridges. However they are not necessarily remanufactured as described above, but are broken up into their constituent parts some of which are sent for reprocessing such as the aluminium drum, and some discarded as waste. Toner cartridge recycling is a growing business. In the United States recycled cartridges already account for over 30% of the market, and worldwide they are estimated to be worth $1.25 billion out of a total $5 billion spent annually on laser cartridges.
Ink jet cartridges are technologically much simpler items, but they also are made of plastic with small amounts of copper and gold. Refilling ink jet cartridges is a more straightforward operation and can be done on a DIY basis with a number of companies supplying the ink and refilling equipment, although it is also possible to send them away for refilling. Ribbon cartridges for printers and typewriters can also be reused with companies offering a reinking service for ribbons or fitting new ones into the original cartridge.
Buying and using remanufactured cartridges
There are a large number of specialist companies which offer a collection and remanufacturing service for used cartridges and sell them at a considerable saving on the price of new ones up to 50%. Some of these give a donation to a charity for each cartridge returned or offer payment (of the order of £1-£3 per cartridge). A number of the companies who collect office waste paper offer the collection of toner cartridges as an additional service. Other companies rely on the postal system for the transport of cartridges, particularly for small numbers of cartridges, with the costs of postage being covered by the company remanufacturing the cartridges. Some companies also deal with ink-jet and ribbon cartridges, so offering a 'one-stop' shop service for all printer consumables. Some printer manufacturers claim that using the remanufactured cartridges invalidates their warranty or maintenance agreement but this is a scare tactic. In fact it is illegal to make these sort of conditions on the purchase of consumables. In some cases, remanufactured toner cartridges may need the density setting changing on the printer, because they often print more densely and may provide more copies per cartridge than new cartridges. If problems do occur first consult the supplier of the cartridges and if they persist try another supplier. The majority of users have no problems.
Setting up a cartridge recycling scheme
The procedure for setting up a cartridge recycling scheme will be similar to that for paper. Once the decision has been taken to set up a scheme the next step is to find a company which offers this service for the types of cartridges used by your firm. Although schemes for toner cartridges are more common, many of the companies deal with ink-jet cartridges as well, and, if your company uses both, it would make sense to find a company which can deal with the range of cartridges you use. Collecting and storing the cartridges ready for collection or postage will need to be organised, with one or more people taking on a coordinating role, and consultation with staff who have the responsibility of replacing cartridges. Many companies offering a recycling service supply plastic sacks or labelled boxes for storing the used cartridges.
Liaison with the person or department responsible for buying replacement cartridges will also be necessary as most firms who accept cartridges for remanufacturing will supply replacement ones. As noted above, the recycling service offered by some of the major companies supplying laser printers is not the same as thus remanufacturing service and is much less environmentally beneficial, so it is advisable to research the options carefully before using a particular scheme
Other Consumables
Computer diskettes can normally be reused several times, although it is usually advisable to reformat them rather than just delete files. If diskettes are being discarded, the aluminium tabs can be recycled. Backup tape cartridges should be reused according to a regular schedule of backups.
Diskettes which are obsolete for the equipment currently in use can be offered to charities and voluntary organizations, and can be found through the Charities Aid Foundation directory.
Large numbers of fasteners are used in offices, such as paper clips, drawing pins and staples. Some of these can be reused, but staples cannot. Even though they do not constitute a major part of the waste from offices, it is noteworthy that, in aggregate, they amount to a significant loss of resources. It has been calculated that if everyone in UK offices saved one staple a day that would be 72 tonnes of metal saved a year.
Disposable pens can be replaced by refillable ballpoints and fountain pens but even these rely on disposable plastic and metal parts. Figures for the number of pens discarded are not easy to obtain, but US citizens throw out over 4 thousand million such pens daily. Disposable pens are now available made from recycled plastic and there is a range of marker pens which can be refilled.