Inkjet Catridge Recycling
1. Why use recycled cartridges?
Cost savings of about 60 to 80% on most cartridges.
Environmental impact by preventing fewer cartridges ending up in landfills, where they take many years to decompose. Cartridges can average between 5-7 refills & sometimes maybe up to 15 refills if recycled correctly, before their life spans are exhausted.
2. Do recycled / remanufactured cartridges make the OEM warranty null and void?
No. The HP Ink Cartridge Refill statement dtd 20/04/95 states, “The use of refilled print cartridges alone does not affect either the warranty or any maintenance contract purchased from HP for its Inkjet Printers.”
3. Refill Kits vs. Recycled / Remanufactured Cartridges.
Refill kits are extremely messy, cumbersome and time consuming. These kits and their packaging add to the environmental waste.
On the other hand commercial recycling uses state-of-the-art equipment through all the stages from emptying the cartridges, cleaning the nozzles, pressurized / vacuum filling of ink, priming, testing thereby allowing for more successful refills of cartridges. This is true recycling!
4. Consistency in Print Quality & Print Page output from a recycled cartridge :
Most IJ recyclers use only the highest quality inks available, which are manufactured specifically for IJ cartridges.
The page printing capacity of all cartridges is determined by the specific amount of ink filled in them at the beginning of their lifespan by the OEM. Most recyclers ensure that the recycled cartridges have the same amount or more ink per recycle by weighing each cartridge during processing & rechecking during quality control to be sure that they adhere to the OEM specifications.
5. The working of an IJ Cartridge :
Eg : HP 51626A
The print head and circuitry, which perform most of the work for the IJ printer, are contained on the cartridge itself. There are 48 nozzles (jets) in the print head on the bottom of the cartridge. Under each nozzle is a heater (resistor) that heats ink inside the cartridge forming an ink bubble which when bursts shoots ink thru the jets onto the paper.
On an average, resistors on most cartridges continue to fire until they burn out about every sixth time the cartridge is recycled. However, in reality up to 5% of all IJ cartridges cannot be recycled even once. Though, most can be recycled many more than 5 times.
6. Until when should one continue to use an IJ Cartridge?
Don’t let the IJ cartridge run empty as the ink in it helps to keep the resistors from overheating which can be irreparably damaged by heat when printing with an empty cartridge.
With color cartridges, we risk damaging the cartridge if we continue to use it with even one tank empty.
7. Signs that your IJ cartridge is running out of ink :
White streaks where there should be black ink.
Lighter than normal print.
However, these can also be signs of bad circuitry, clogged nozzles or worn out internal components.
8. Getting more recycles out of your empties :
Proper handling and protecting the circuitry of the empty cartridge may add to the no. of recycles.
Do not print when the cartridge is out of ink.
Always clip the empty cartridge.
Never put adhesive tape on the circuitry or print head.
9. What about a cartridge that is no longer recyclable?
All cartridges eventually reach the end of their life cycles. Instead of throwing the unusable empties in the trash bin, one can return send them to a recycler who can dispose of the ink and cartridge properly.
10. How many cartridges can one expect to receive in working condition out of the total sent for recycling?
Not all cartridges can be recycled...including some virgin ones! Rates of the unserviceable empties vary widely by cartridge style and condition. The single color black virgin cartridges have the highest success rates. On the average, 90-95% of virgin single color cartridges can be serviced. However, this percentage lowers with the cartridge age.
Most tri-chamber color cartridges due to their design and the HP 51629A cartridges have the highest unserviceable rates. Some sponge type cartridges such as the Canon BC02 have higher unserviceable rates than the liquid ink cartridges such as the HP 626A cartridges.
However, most recyclers especially those using equipments based on the latest technological advances in IJ recycling ensure that they put empties thru these processes at least 3 times before they consider them unserviceable, thereby ensuring that the users get the highest no. of recycled cartridges back.
11. Why aren’t more IJ cartridges recycled?
This is mainly due to lack of user awareness of the recycling option over the option of using refill kits or because of the ease of discarding the empties.
Recycling is a fairly new service, and it is the responsibility of the recycling industry to educate the users and remind them just how valuable their empty IJ cartridges can be!