Myths About Recycled Cartridges

1.) Using recycled cartridges voids your printer warranty

Using recycled laser cartridges will not void the manufacturer warranty on your printer any more than using third party paper.  This kind of statement is sometimes made by vendors trying to protect their cartridge business from competitors but there is no legal basis to it.  

The key point is that the warranty is unaffected unless damage is caused.       

2.) The print quality is not as good as brand new

Recycled cartridges can produce images that are as good as brand new cartridges. The key is to rebuild the cartridge properly and to use high quality materials. Most people believe that laser cartridges are ink (toner) reservoirs. In fact, the laser cartridge contains up to six consumable parts that directly affect image quality. These components wear down with use and must be replaced before the end of their rated life or the quality of the image will visibly degrade. We replace these components and then test the cartridges for their ability to reproduce full pages of solid black, solid grey, text and blank pages without printing defects or unwanted artifacts.

In general, the aftermarket print industry invests heavily in research and testing. Components undergo exhaustive testing to verify that they can yield the same image quality and number of pages as the OEM products. The testing and management controls follow ISO 9001 standards and are audited annually.

3.) Rebuilt cartridges don't last as long

Rebuilt cartridges last just as long as OEM cartridges and sometimes longer. It is related to how much toner is used to recharge the shell but, that is not all. One of the ways that a printer tracks toner levels is to inject an electrical charge through the cartridge. As the toner becomes lower, the bias in the charge changes until it reaches a point where the printer knows that the cartridge is empty. The cartridge has three to four components that are part of this system. These components have a rated life cycle and will work perfectly with this monitoring system as long as these components are replaced before they exceed their rated life. To ensure that this system works properly, our practice is to replace these parts well before they reach the end of life.

4.) Recycled cartridge are not as reliable as brand new

This is not true. Recycled cartridges can be just as reliable as new. There are customers ranging from individuals to large organizations that have been using recycled cartridges. From time to time, defective product goes into the field but, this is also true for OEM manufacturers. In fact, the print industry (this includes OEM manufacturers) aim for a defect rate of two percent or less.

5.) Recycled cartridges are simply refilled with new toner

Rebuilding a laser cartridge is more complicated than simply topping up the toner. The cartridge is actually a portion of the printer engine that can be removed and replaced. A good analogy is a car engine. You add gas to it as it runs out and from time to time, you have to replace other parts like spark plugs and alternators. This is only an analogy though. Laser cartridges need to replenish the toner, image drum, wiper blade, doctor blade, primary charge roller and magnetic roller. In addition to this, the process of dismantling, cleaning and reassembling the cartridge is critical.

Facts about recycled cartridges

1.) Want to save big money? Invest in a more expensive printer

This may sound contradictory, but, it is based on a very sound principle known as cost per copy. Laser cartridges come in many different sizes. To give you an idea of the scale of difference, smaller cartridges might print 2,000 pages while larger cartridges can print over 30,000 pages. The larger cartridge may be more expensive to buy but, what matters most is that it costs far less to print each page - or lower cost per copy.

Let's take a small cartridge that costs $98 and yields 2,000 pages. The cost per page would be 4.9 cents. Compare it to a large cartridge that costs $292 but yields 20,000 pages. The cost per page would be 1.46 cents for the larger cartridge. The difference in cost per copy between these two cartridges is 3.44 cents.

The example above actually based on an actual customer scenario. The company purchased a small printer for $100 and was going through small cartridges for it every two weeks which means that they were printing 4,000 pages a month. We recommended that they invest $1,400 to upgrade the printer. They looked at the business case and say that the upgraded printer would save them 3.44 cents per page to operate so the customer saved $137 a month and $1,644 per year.

If you print more than 1,000 pages each month, do your homework on the operating cost. You will get a better machine and it will pay for itself.

2.) North America consumes approximately 6 million laser cartridges annually

In 2005, a study of laser cartridge consumption showed that North America uses 6 million laser cartridges alone. This did not include inkjets and projected a growth rate of 15% annually.

Every printer manufacturer has a free program for you to send back your empty cartridge by courier. Despite that offer, most people throw away their spent shells because they might lose the original box, or simply don't have time to take repackage it and take it to a courier.

A local cartridge recycling program is far better way of reducing your carbon footprint.

It takes about half a gallon of oil to produce one laser cartridge

In May 2008, the San Diego Tribune reported results from a study conducted by climate advisors to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Among the findings was that it takes half a gallon of oil to produce one ink cartridge.

http://weekoffire.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051228/news_lz1c28crude.html

Oil facts were drawn from:

• Environmental Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy
• Jeff Dukes, University of Utah
• American Petroleum Institute
• U.S. Department of Energy
• Safe Energy Communication Council
• Harper's
• Natural Resources Defense Council
• University of Colorado Environmental Center
• Texas Transportation Institute
• Tank Automotive Command, U.S. Army
• Newdle Strategic Media
• NASA
• A.H. Rosenfeld, UC Berkeley
• Stockholm County Council
• Planning for Higher Education Journal, 2003
• Ohio Department of Natural Resources
• www.cqc.com/~ccswmd/trivia.htm
• www.ilacsd.org
• Brad Lemley, Discover.