Remanufactured cartridges

You do not need to pay a fortune to get top-quality cartridges. For obvious reasons, some Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s) tend to argue that non-original cartridges are less reliable. But many independent studies, consumer surveys etc, published during the last few years prove that non-originals are as good as (and sometimes even better than) the original product.

Makers of remanufactured laser toners usually provide a list of all the benefits that their products can give. Some of these are high quality printing that can be comparable to the OEMs or the original equipment manufacturer cartridges, savings on the printing costs since the prices of these printer supplies are up to 70% less when compared to other laser toner types, and environmental benefits because remanufactured printer supplies are known to apply recycling processes that help preserve resources, energy, and nature.

Eco-labels for printers and copiers in Europe

Examples of existing eco-labels in Europe (not exhaustive)

Name	Website	Language
Blaue Engel	Several products: Printers, RAL-UZ 85 Multifunctional devices RAL-UZ-114 Copiers, RAL-UZ 62 Recycled toner modules RAL-UZ-55 Returnable and Recycable Cassettes/Cartridges RAL-UZ-86	German and English
Nordic Swan	Copying Machines, Printers, Fax Machines and Multifunctional Devices http://www.svanen.nu/Eng/criteria/kriterie.asp?pgn=48	English and Swedish
TCO	Copiers, printers http://www.tcodevelopment.com	English, German and Swedish
AENOR	Photocopiers http://www.aenor.es	Spanish and English
NF-Environment	Cartridge for laser printers http://www.marque-nf.com	French
Hungarian Label	Black and white digital copying machines http://www.kornyezetbarat-termek.hu	Hungarian
Dutch eco-label (Stichting Milieukeur)	www.milieukeur.nl > criteria > toner cartridges	Dutch
Umweltzeichen	Austrian eco-label for copying equipment www.umweltzeichen.at	German
Czech eco-label	http://www.ekoznacka.cz/	Czech

Green procurement of printers and copiers

Analyze printer and copier procurement

The preliminary questions are:

1. Do you need the printer or copier at all? Can you reduce the number of printers?
2. Are there any older ones inside the organization that can be refurbished?
3. Can you buy printing and/or copying services instead of installing equipment?

Important:

1. Always determine the necessary capacity and function of each device (How many people will use it? How many pages are printed or copied on average? Do they need color printing and copying? etc.)
2. Use central printers and copiers wherever possible, instead of the principle of “a printer for every computer” and “a copier for every room”.
3. Use multi-functional devices.
   
   

Environmental aspects

Production
Printers and copying machines are produced from many materials in a complex process. Important points are:

1. The use of non-renewable natural resources (plastic parts)
2. The use of harmful chemicals for flame retardants and other harmful substances
3. The use of resources for packaging

Use
Despite the relatively short life-cycle, the most important environmental effect emerges during the usage phase in the form of energy used, the use of inks and consumables, etc. Additionally, there are effects on the health of users, these are:

1. Ozone, styrene and dust emissions
2. Noise

Waste
The many different materials used cause a severe problem of wastage. Most of the materials can be recycled. A (free of charge) take-back system for recycling should be taken into account when purchasing computers and monitors. Printer consumables (toners and cartridges) also create waste throughout the life of the machine.


Cost aspects

Life cycle costs

1. Savings in energy costs can be made by using energy management programs.
2. The use of consumables: toners and cartridges for inks and paper. Here, savings can be made by, for example, printing draft versions of documents in the economy mode. A device for double-sided printing/copying also saves paper.
3. A smaller part of the life-cycle cost relates to maintenance and disposal.

For more information about green procurement go to EU Green Public Procurement.

Can ink cartridges be recycled?

Customer involvement is vital to the remanufacturing process, and recycling keeps tons of plastic out of landfills ever year. By the way, some companies give out free mailers so you can return empty cartridges to them "for free." Don't give away that empty cartridge; many office supply retailers will "buy" empty ink cartridges by offering discount ink cartridges when you trade in the old one. If you do plan to recycle, take empty inkjet cartridges from the printer immediately, put them in a plastic bag with a small scrap of wet paper towel and recycle as soon as possible.

How much ink is left in the cartridge?

Your printer tells you it's time to change the cartridge, but you dismiss the message and keep printing. Days or weeks later, you're still using the same cartridge and thinking to yourself that rumors of its death were greatly exaggerated.

Many manufacturer-branded (OEM) and third-party (aftermarket) vendor cartridges leave a startling amount of ink unused when they read empty. In fact, some inkjet printers force users to replace black ink cartridges when the cartridge is nearly half full. When using ink of their own manufacturer's cartridges, the printers display several low-ink warning messages before finally shutting down due to low ink.

There are valid reasons for not draining an ink cartridge completely, printing experts say. Many inks, if they run dry, can cause significant damage to the printer. You always want to leave a buffer in the tank so that the printer never runs dry. There should always be a factor of safety included.