What Is Remanufacturing?
Think of it as a way to keep durable goods out of the landfill before their time. When products become too worn or damaged to perform properly, remanufacturing extends their useful life, restoring them to a condition that’s as “good as new.” Because durable products represent a major investment for most organizations, remanufacturing is a good cost cutting opportunity, saving the expense of buying a new product or disposing of an old one. In addition, remanufacturing conserves energy and resources because fewer raw materials are used.
Quality remanufactured toner cartridges are available within the marketplace, remanufactured toner cartridges can actually exceed OEM quality and yield. Extensive testing and R&D have enabled this industry to produce cartridges that will not only save the customer money, but also provide a better product.
As the customer, what should you ask potential vendors about their remanufactured cartridges?
Does the company change any components?
Ask if the company changes the drum, wiper blade and mag roller. These components are all very important to print quality. Some lower yield cartridges do not need to have their drums changed if they are properly tested, but anything over 4,000 pages should, at least, receive a new drum.
Does the company use a universal toner for all printers within a manufacturer?
Some suppliers try to save money by using one toner per printer model, i.e. one toner for all HP cartridges. This may not affect print quality, but it will affect yield. Each model of printer has different characteristics, which means different toners. An example of differing characteristics is the fusing temperature of the printers.
Are all cartridges post tested?
Some suppliers do not want to invest in all the printers, or do not do enough volume to make this affordable. This is the most important step. These cartridges have to be rebuilt by hand, which introduces human error. Forgetting one step can cause failures that can only be picked up in post-testing.
Does the company replace the label on the cartridge?
Some companies leave the OEM label on their cartridges; this is a copyright infringement. Other companies do not have any labels on their cartridges. This is legal, but can be confusing if you have different model printers. See if the company replaces the label with a new descriptive label, which should have the machine that the cartridge goes to on it.
Will the use of a remanufactured or compatible cartridge void my printer's warranty?
NO! Federal Trade Commission - Magnusson-Moss Warranty Federal Commission Improvement Act (Subparagraph C, section 101) - regulations specifically states that "No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer's using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name".
What the above really means: The manufacturer of the printer you are using cannot void the warranty on your printer because you use a cartridge or refill kit manufactured by someone other than the printer manufacturer. This prohibition includes the use of compatible cartridges, clip-ons,
continuous feeding mechanisms, refill kits, ink, etc. For more information on the act, you can contact the Federal Trade Commission at (202) 326-3128.
All Green Image Solutions laser toners are manufactured to ISO 9001 standards which means you can be assured of quality.
Before leaving the factory, our products go through following professional test:
1.Mechanical test to ensure the toners smooth operation and no noise, and to comply with ISO standards.
2.Environment protection test to ensure toners' environmental safe.
3.Duration test to ensure toners can last more than one year.
4.Difficult conditions tests such as abnormal temperature, air pressure, strong sun light and rough transportation tests to ensure the printing quality remains high.
5.Water resistant test to ensure printing won't fade and be diluted when wet.
6.Printing quality test to ensure the printing is real black, sharp, no slur and won't fade.
7.Capacity test to ensure the number of printed pages is the same as the ones of original manufacturers. We ensure the satisfaction of our clients with our products.
Facts on Inkjet Remanufacturing
White Paper: Critical Process Steps For Successful Inkjet Cartridge Remanufacturing.
Early inkjet technology found each printer manufacturer designing and constructing their inkjet cartridges in their own, proprietary ways. As a result, the remanufacturing industry was fractured and required many different processing methods. This prevented any type of standardization to develop.
It has been several years since inkjet printer manufacturers have universally adopted the foam (or sponge) type inkjet cartridge design in their integrated cartridges for both color and black models. Since then, for the first time, a broad consensus among both remanufacturers and remanufacturing equipment companies has been reached concerning the proper method for remanufacturing these cartridges. This process standardization was a major element in the successful growth, popularity and consumer acceptance of remanufactured inkjet cartridges.
Within this standardization, certain critical phases of the remanufacturing process gained industry-wide acceptance and are considered vital to successful inkjet cartridge remanufacturing. These process steps are:
1. Centrifuging out old ink as part of the clean / prep stage.
2. Refilling the cartridge with new ink under vacuum conditions.
Centrifuging
Centrifuging an inkjet cartridge prior to remanufacturing is an important step in the process for two reasons. First, when the old ink is forced out of the cartridge using centrifugal force, it exits through the printhead nozzles and perhaps the ink inlet holes in the cap. The ink is forced out through these holes with sufficient force so as to return the cartridge to its prefilled condition. Pigment black and color inks can cause additional blockages. The centrifuging action helps remove these blockages and helps to ensure that the cartridge will print with all of the nozzles, without streaks or missing lines. This streaking is a common cause of failed or returned cartridges.
The second reason centrifuging the cartridge is critical to success is to prevent the overfilling of ink during the refilling stage. Most incoming “cores” (empty inkjet cartridges) are not always completely empty of all inks. Color cartridges generally do not run out of all the colors at the same time. When one of the colors runs out, the printer will issue a “replace cartridge” message. Yellow is usually the first color to run out, because yellow is mixed with the cyan ink and magenta ink to form many colors. Centrifuging all of the residual ink remaining in the cartridge chambers ensures that a uniform amount of new ink can be safely put back into each and every cartridge. A cartridge that has been overfilled may leak ink in transit or during shelf life and cause cross-contamination of colors.
Vacuum Filling
Integrated inkjet cartridges in use today utilize special hi-tech foam for storing the ink inside the cartridge. This open pore foam has a cellular makeup. It is in these cells that the ink is stored. These cartridges may malfunction if there are any air bubbles trapped in the cells. The slight pressurization that exists within the cartridge is crucial to proper ink delivery ink from the foam to the pre-firing chambers and then to the printhead. Air bubbles in the foam will cause changes to this pressure that will interrupt this delivery. When ink is added to the cartridge under normal atmospheric conditions, air bubbles in the sponge cells displace the ink and become trapped. This results in an improperly filled cartridge that will not print consistently and contain streaks and missing lines. Many times the foam chamber containing the air bubbles will not print at all, once these air bubbles reach the pre-firing chambers above the printhead nozzles.
When cartridges are remanufactured under a vacuum, these air bubbles are removed from the foam prior to the ink refill stage. This vacuum environment allows the ink to saturate the foam cells without being displaced by trapped air bubbles. This results in a properly filled cartridge that is air-free and capable of containing the correct ink volume required.
Air bubbles trapped in the foam will also contribute to another type of cartridge failure. Integrated inkjet cartridges use a thermal element to eject the ink from the nozzle and onto the paper. The element heats the ink to boiling point causing it to be pushed out through the printhead. The heating element is kept cool by the ink. If an air bubble, instead of ink is present when the heating element fires, the element may burn out, causing the cartridge electronics to prematurely fail.
It is important to note that the vacuum filling process described above is the same process used by the printer manufacturers when cartridges are originally manufactured.
This fact alone should serve to validate the widely used and very successful practice of vacuum filling within the inkjet cartridge remanufacturing industry.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Recycling Ink & Toner Facts
Whether the Earth wants plastic or not, recycling of inkjet cartridges is useful in many different ways. However, before our prospects or clients decide how and where to recycle their toner and inkjet cartridges; we must educate them so that they can determine if their recycling efforts are going to be effective.
Recycling will not work if the loop is not closed; many charitable institutions around the world have initiated ink cartridge recycling programs, which fund hospitals, school activities and other social concerns. This type of funding cuts costs in many ways from tax breaks for charitable donations to lowering the price that we have to pay for the services the funded organizations provide.
In addition, remanufactured compatible inkjet cartridges are usually a fraction of the cost of brand name inkjet refills. Several printer manufacturers maintain recycling programs however; your recycled ink cartridge doesn’t always make it around the loop.
Epson, in cooperation with Funding Factory, recently launched a free recycling program for its customers. Schools and businesses can get points for collecting and remitting empty cartridges to Epson. However, the cartridges are not remanufactured or refilled. They are incinerated. To be fair, mention must be made that the incineration is at an environmentally friendly waste-to-energy plant; however, it’s easy to see that Epson is the big winner in this recycling effort. Their recycling plan takes cartridges out of the hands of remanufacturing plants that can offer less expensive remanufactured compatible cartridges to the consumer.
Hewlett Packard also has a free recycling program and they proudly announce that more than 1.8 million HP inkjet cartridges were recycled in 2003. Unfortunately, for the consumer, plastics and metal from the HP cartridges are also disassembled and made into new products. Other components are “used to generate energy or are disposed of in an environmentally responsible manner.”
The article below is just another example of how HP is more focused on maintaining and increasing its prices and insuring that the around the loop becomes more and more difficult using the term recycling inappropriately.
HP Adds to Customer Convenience, Boosts Efficiency with Recycling Program Expansion PRWeb
November 10, 2008
Original PRWeb article: HP Adds to Customer Convenience, Boosts Efficiency with Recycling Program Expansion - PALO ALTO, Calif. (Business Wire EON) November 10, 2008 -- Core News
HP is expanding the HP Planet Partners print cartridge return and recycling program to now include authorized retail recycling, and is implementing steps to reduce shipping materials and increase transportation efficiency. HP Planet Partners, part of the HP Eco Solutions program, now includes HP authorized retail recycling locations for HP ink cartridge and LaserJet toner cartridge collection, in addition to other recycling options. Staples, the world's largest office products company, is the first to pilot the HP retail recycling program. HP is teaming with Staples to offer additional incentives for recycling leading up to America Recycles Day (Nov. 15), a nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle. To reduce the amount of shipping material required for recycling returns, HP will no longer include return envelopes in HP ink cartridge packaging. HP will still offer customers several free, postage-paid return options at www.hp.com/recycle, including return envelopes, bulk collection boxes and printable labels. HP will continue to offer return labels in HP LaserJet toner cartridge packaging as well as its online and in-store recycling options. HP estimates that if all ink cartridges returned via in-box envelopes in 2008 were instead returned in bulk from authorized retail recycling locations, the amount of shipping materials used would have been reduced by more than 600,000 pounds - enough to fill more than 15 tractor trailers.(1) Transportation efficiency may be improved because twice as many cartridges can be shipped in bulk boxes than those shipped individually. Customers can be confident that all HP ink cartridges and LaserJet toner cartridges returned to HP authorized retail locations are recycled responsibly through HP's state-of-the-art processes and diverted from landfills. HP recently met its goal to recycle more than 250 million HP print cartridges worldwide since the inception of HP Planet Partners in 1991. Print cartridge recycling through HP Planet Partners is available in more than 47 countries, regions and territories. To accommodate greater customer participation in the HP Planet Partners program, HP is currently doubling the size of its North American ink cartridge recycling facility to more than 80,000 square feet to improve efficiency and increase productivity. Last year HP used more than 5 million pounds of recycled plastic - from everyday plastic water bottles to highly technical HP cartridges - to make new HP ink cartridges and is well on its way of doubling that goal in 2008. Quotes
John Solomon, vice president and general manager, North American Consumer Business, Imaging and Printing Group, HP: 'We introduced HP Planet Partners long before 'going green' was a trend, and over time HP has made print cartridge recycling easier and more widely available.' John Solomon, vice president and general manager, North American Consumer Business, Imaging and Printing Group, HP: 'As environmental awareness and customer participation have increased, we're proud to offer customers authorized retail recycling locations as a natural evolution of the program.' Scott Rankin, vice president, Technology Merchandising, Staples Inc.: 'Staples makes it easy for customers to safely and responsibly recycle a wide variety of their used technology, whether it's ink and toner cartridges, or cell phones and larger technology items like laptops and computers.' Scott Rankin, vice president, Technology Merchandising, Staples Inc.: 'Working with HP to offer convenient, everyday recycling is one of the ways Staples makes it easy for our customers to protect the environment; we call it EcoEasy.' Multimedia (links to video)
Canon offers its customers several options for recycling toner cartridges, including a single return option, an up-to-eight multiple return options, and a bulk return option. Whichever you choose, a shipping label can be downloaded directly from their website. Return shipping via UPS is pre-paid by the company. It appears from many recycling and other eco-friendly programs displayed on their website, that Canon is a leader in environmental stewardship, however to date they have no recycling program in place for inkjet cartridges.
Lexmark’s recycling program is 100% free, as are the other printer manufacturer recycling programs. Customers request a kit using an online order form. Lexmark pays the postage both ways. However, there is one major difference between Lexmark’s program and the programs of the other print giants. Lexmark works with Planet Ark and Close the Loop in Australia to ensure every collected cartridge is remanufactured or recycled. In addition, they have similar recycling programs in Latin American and South Africa. In Europe, every purchase of a Lexmark high-volume cartridge comes with a postage-paid recycling bag included. Now that’s closing the circle!
Recycling will not work if the loop is not closed; many charitable institutions around the world have initiated ink cartridge recycling programs, which fund hospitals, school activities and other social concerns. This type of funding cuts costs in many ways from tax breaks for charitable donations to lowering the price that we have to pay for the services the funded organizations provide.
In addition, remanufactured compatible inkjet cartridges are usually a fraction of the cost of brand name inkjet refills. Several printer manufacturers maintain recycling programs however; your recycled ink cartridge doesn’t always make it around the loop.
Epson, in cooperation with Funding Factory, recently launched a free recycling program for its customers. Schools and businesses can get points for collecting and remitting empty cartridges to Epson. However, the cartridges are not remanufactured or refilled. They are incinerated. To be fair, mention must be made that the incineration is at an environmentally friendly waste-to-energy plant; however, it’s easy to see that Epson is the big winner in this recycling effort. Their recycling plan takes cartridges out of the hands of remanufacturing plants that can offer less expensive remanufactured compatible cartridges to the consumer.
Hewlett Packard also has a free recycling program and they proudly announce that more than 1.8 million HP inkjet cartridges were recycled in 2003. Unfortunately, for the consumer, plastics and metal from the HP cartridges are also disassembled and made into new products. Other components are “used to generate energy or are disposed of in an environmentally responsible manner.”
The article below is just another example of how HP is more focused on maintaining and increasing its prices and insuring that the around the loop becomes more and more difficult using the term recycling inappropriately.
HP Adds to Customer Convenience, Boosts Efficiency with Recycling Program Expansion PRWeb
November 10, 2008
Original PRWeb article: HP Adds to Customer Convenience, Boosts Efficiency with Recycling Program Expansion - PALO ALTO, Calif. (Business Wire EON) November 10, 2008 -- Core News
HP is expanding the HP Planet Partners print cartridge return and recycling program to now include authorized retail recycling, and is implementing steps to reduce shipping materials and increase transportation efficiency. HP Planet Partners, part of the HP Eco Solutions program, now includes HP authorized retail recycling locations for HP ink cartridge and LaserJet toner cartridge collection, in addition to other recycling options. Staples, the world's largest office products company, is the first to pilot the HP retail recycling program. HP is teaming with Staples to offer additional incentives for recycling leading up to America Recycles Day (Nov. 15), a nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle. To reduce the amount of shipping material required for recycling returns, HP will no longer include return envelopes in HP ink cartridge packaging. HP will still offer customers several free, postage-paid return options at www.hp.com/recycle, including return envelopes, bulk collection boxes and printable labels. HP will continue to offer return labels in HP LaserJet toner cartridge packaging as well as its online and in-store recycling options. HP estimates that if all ink cartridges returned via in-box envelopes in 2008 were instead returned in bulk from authorized retail recycling locations, the amount of shipping materials used would have been reduced by more than 600,000 pounds - enough to fill more than 15 tractor trailers.(1) Transportation efficiency may be improved because twice as many cartridges can be shipped in bulk boxes than those shipped individually. Customers can be confident that all HP ink cartridges and LaserJet toner cartridges returned to HP authorized retail locations are recycled responsibly through HP's state-of-the-art processes and diverted from landfills. HP recently met its goal to recycle more than 250 million HP print cartridges worldwide since the inception of HP Planet Partners in 1991. Print cartridge recycling through HP Planet Partners is available in more than 47 countries, regions and territories. To accommodate greater customer participation in the HP Planet Partners program, HP is currently doubling the size of its North American ink cartridge recycling facility to more than 80,000 square feet to improve efficiency and increase productivity. Last year HP used more than 5 million pounds of recycled plastic - from everyday plastic water bottles to highly technical HP cartridges - to make new HP ink cartridges and is well on its way of doubling that goal in 2008. Quotes
John Solomon, vice president and general manager, North American Consumer Business, Imaging and Printing Group, HP: 'We introduced HP Planet Partners long before 'going green' was a trend, and over time HP has made print cartridge recycling easier and more widely available.' John Solomon, vice president and general manager, North American Consumer Business, Imaging and Printing Group, HP: 'As environmental awareness and customer participation have increased, we're proud to offer customers authorized retail recycling locations as a natural evolution of the program.' Scott Rankin, vice president, Technology Merchandising, Staples Inc.: 'Staples makes it easy for customers to safely and responsibly recycle a wide variety of their used technology, whether it's ink and toner cartridges, or cell phones and larger technology items like laptops and computers.' Scott Rankin, vice president, Technology Merchandising, Staples Inc.: 'Working with HP to offer convenient, everyday recycling is one of the ways Staples makes it easy for our customers to protect the environment; we call it EcoEasy.' Multimedia (links to video)
Canon offers its customers several options for recycling toner cartridges, including a single return option, an up-to-eight multiple return options, and a bulk return option. Whichever you choose, a shipping label can be downloaded directly from their website. Return shipping via UPS is pre-paid by the company. It appears from many recycling and other eco-friendly programs displayed on their website, that Canon is a leader in environmental stewardship, however to date they have no recycling program in place for inkjet cartridges.
Lexmark’s recycling program is 100% free, as are the other printer manufacturer recycling programs. Customers request a kit using an online order form. Lexmark pays the postage both ways. However, there is one major difference between Lexmark’s program and the programs of the other print giants. Lexmark works with Planet Ark and Close the Loop in Australia to ensure every collected cartridge is remanufactured or recycled. In addition, they have similar recycling programs in Latin American and South Africa. In Europe, every purchase of a Lexmark high-volume cartridge comes with a postage-paid recycling bag included. Now that’s closing the circle!
Toner Cartridge Recycling Interesting Data
350 million empty ink & toner cartridges end up in landfills every year
- Takes up to 1,000 years for ink & toner cartridges to decompose
- Takes up to 3 quarts of oil to make new "OEM" cartridges
- Each recycled cartridges saves up to ½ gallon of oil
- Takes up to 1,000 years for ink & toner cartridges to decompose
- Takes up to 3 quarts of oil to make new "OEM" cartridges
- Each recycled cartridges saves up to ½ gallon of oil
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