We’ve all wondered about whether we should risk refilling our cartidges with compatible toner.  Especially us laser printer owners faced with throwing or sending away that huge plastic manufactured cartridge just because it’s ran out of ink.

Last year I was faced with a bill of several hundreds of dollars to replace the laser toner cartridges in my Lexmark laser printer.  The bill was actually more than the cost of the printer and I was not very impressed.

The manufacturers of printers both inkjet and laser printers make massive profits based on what I like to call razor blade economics.  The ploy is you manufacture a device (such as a razor or printer) and then make sure that using the product is hugely expensive.  If you don’t buy the consumables (the toner or blades) then the product is useless to you.

You can refill Toner Cartridges

Less than a decade ago, most devices which used toner were refilled from a plastic bottle of ink.

You’d simply open a stopper and refill with toner ink, it was quick and simple to do.  Nowadays these companies actually develop technology to stop you refilling the cartridges.

TONER FACT 1

The average toner cartridge takes between 1 and 2 litres of oil to manufacture.   Every time you re-use that toner cartridge that’s one less that needs to be produced.

TONER FACT 2

The average toner cartridge does not need replacing when it has run out of ink.  The only reason is that the manufacturers make much more money by forcing you to buy a new laser cartridge or by making you send it back to them for ‘remanufacture’.

Should I use Compatible Toner to refill ?

If your laser printer has just run out ink, and you are looking for a replacement, stop for a minute and look at that cartridge.

• Does it look like it has been manufactured to last one print run?
• Is it falling to bits ?
• Does it look damaged or worn out?

I can tell you now, if all it’s done is sit in your printer, it’s fine there is only one problem it has run out of ink.  That’s all, nothing else, 10 years ago we would have opened a little stopped poured in some toner ink and carried on printing.

Alas the firms making these printers have taken away the stoppers allowing us to refill them,  of course they make much more money by selling us new ones. But you can still refill the vast majority of toner cartridges with compatible toner.

So if you want to Save Money, if you want to help the environment and if you want to reduce profits for the big printer companies then refill your toner cartridges with compatible toner.    There are more and more companies appearing now that do this,  please feel free to recommend any that you’ve used.

This company is one I have used on several occasions – Toner Topup , extremely knowledgeable and they have hundreds of custom kits for specific printers.

I’m glad, it’s about time that the simple fact that it’s very simple (despite the printer companies best efforts) to refill most toner cartridges. The perception has that it needs some special skills, is very difficult and carries huge risks is of course nonsense and just perpetuated with those who would rather you waste your money.

At least now they’re appearing on big Review focussed sites like Amazon will mean we can all share experiences in different toner cartridges. Of course as I always say the best kits will be ones that use the best ink, compatible toner for that particular printer. I’d be very wary of the very generic toner kits but at least with Amazon you can see what people think about them.

I’ve just been looking and there isn’t the range as from the specialist toner companies so far but I’m sure they’ll all end up joining Amazon eventually. Good thing is we’ll find which are hopeless and which work well. Don’t listen to all the rubbish about destroying your printer it’s not true, and even if it was the money you save would easily buy you a new printer anyway for the cost of new cartridges.

It’s worth checking out, not that many reviews for some of the companies but hopefully we’ll find a few more decent companies to help cut our printer costs down.

I wonder how much toner is being wasted in cartridges due to printer manufacturers – special toner sensors. These have all sorts of names usually pretending to be protecting your print quality or even the printer itself. In reality it’s the usual rip off, manufacturers eager to improve their bottom line by getting you to buy more cartridges for your printer. I saw an awful example in the HP CM1015 Toner cartridge refill. The printer was complaining about that the toner cartridge was empty and refusing to print. This was the usual little sensor playing up and telling me something that was empty when it clearly wasn’t.

I mean most of us are lucky to be blessed with the gift of sight, we can see when the quality is getting worse, and if we carry on printing we are happy to accept a slightly lighter shade of black. Half the stuff I print – the only required quality is being legible.

But no we have these stupid sensors, like in the CM1015 and when the sensor has decided that you’ve printed enough then it makes the cartridge unusable. It’s literally like driving your car and when the petrol warning light comes on your car stops working, in doesn’t matter there’s still more petrol in it, the sensor stops your car working.

Now I know many people who routinely get 30-40% more printouts from these cartridges by reseting the chips.

Yes that’s right – you have to reset the manufacturers chip to carry on using the toner in the CM1015 toner cartridge that you have paid for !!!

Because HP sensor technology has decided that there is no toner in your cartridge and you have to buy a new one. It really makes me mad and there is only one reason they do this to make more money out of us poor saps who have to buy replacement toner cartridges. I can’t quite express how mad this makes me !

We are supposed to be reducing our consumption and waste, yet practically every printer company going is locked into this exploitative model of conning their customers in to buying more and more consumables to boost their profits. 30-40% left in the ink you have paid for but are denied, sounds pretty terrible way to treat a customer to me.

By the way for some of the HP printers like the CM1015, make sure you disable the stupid quality check which can disable your cartridges. You’ll find them in various places hidden on the menus but often somewhere like this

System Setup>Print Quality>Replace Supplies>Override out

You set this from the control panel. What you are actually doing is telling the stupid printer that you will decide when the quality requires a new cartridge. Unfortunately all sorts of printers need different techniques, from resetting chips, covering sensors with scotch tape, even opening and leaving cover door works on some models (presumably fooling the printer into thinking you’ve given it a new cartridge.)

As an industry, the printer companies have one of the most shameful, wasteful and deceitful business models. How many printers are designed to purposely mislead the owners about when their cartridges are empty. I say take all the restrictions off and let people decide.

Make sure you get the most out of the toner you have paid for, and when it’s empty find one of the many companies who can sell you all you need to refill the cartridge, typically it will be a small kit to make hole, a bottle of replacement compatible toner and either a chip resetter or a replacement chip. You’ll save up to 80% on a new cartridge and better still save valuable environmental resources by reusing something which would work perfectly fine if it hadn’t been disabled like the HP CM1015 toner cartridge is.

Now some of  you may have heard of this group, it has actually been around for many years but really growing in popularity.   How many times have you found yourself about to throw something away which is still perfectly usable – maybe you’ve upgraded your printer, computer, washing machine etc and you are faced with the depressing prospect of having to throw the old one away.

Of course you could give it away but the problem is usually transportation, large bulky items cost a lot to post so you ideally need someone nearby.  Well I urge you to browse the Freecycle Communities  they are a wonderful resource.

It’s a very simple concept, you join a local group for just your area, and if you want to get rid of something you simply make a post.   There are a few restrictions, it’s all supposed to be non-profit so you can’t ask for any sort of fee.    I’ve used it to get rid of loads of things – toys my kids have grown out of, old TVs, printers, computers and much, much more.

It’s wonderful to see your items going to someone who will really use them, if you’ve got stuff lying around the house which you don’t use but is ‘too good to throw away’ – then go and declutter your life and help someone else out.

It really is a great idea,    here’s the link Freecyle – just register with groups near you and start browsing.  You may find items you need being offered as well to save yourself some cash.

You also get too meet some lovely people,  with very similar views on recycling – a proper little community!  Give it a try , I’d love to hear some comments on your local group as well.

Computers are everywhere and where there’s a computer. There is a printer. For every computer software company, there’s a printer company as well. The computer may cost more and printer’s help with work but there’s ways to make sure it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to keep these suckers running. In this article you will learn about the importance of your ink cartridges and the ways you can make them work for you rather than you work for them.

Society has got used to the idea of throwing EVERYTHING away. Why? There are so many things we can keep and reuse and ink is no different. When you’re making a print job and your computer shows you a warning window. What does it say? “Ink Low” or “Low Ink” I think we get the idea by the quality not being so good.

Most people take out the ink cartridge and throw it away. It’s not broken, it’s just empty. The average laser printer has four ink cartridges. If the average ink cartridge costs $15-50 you’re throwing away a lot of money. If your child’s tummy was just empty, would you throw the child away?

Printer manufactures don’t want you to know that you can just refill the ink. That’s where they make the money, not in the printer. They know that you’ll probably spend anywhere from 30 to 300 bucks on a printer and it’ll last years. However, the ink to use on that same printer can cost anywhere from 15 to 50 like we said before. YOU DON’T NEED TO RECYCLE the cartridge, yet. Even some of the computer stores tell you that cartridge can’t be refilled. They want you to buy a new one. However, EVERY ink cartridge can be refilled. You just have to know how.

The environmental benefits of not recycling your ink cartridge would be huge if everyone did this. You would be able to save the world and save money. The cost in savings alone over a period of time could easily buy you a new/used car or even help with a down payment on a house. There are several pages online that will teach you how to refill your ink, take advantage and you too can be a part of the 87% savings.

In conclusion, try to be smart and understand that even though your computer tells you to replace the cartridge, doesn’t mean you have to. The cartridge is still fine, get some use out of it before you toss it in the blue or green bin outside. Make sure that even if you do fill the ink up you won’t be able to use it before they go to ink cartridge heaven. You can even do this with laser printers, just buy a cheap kit online and refill your cartridges with compatible toner.

If you would like to save money, live better, than just recycle by reusing your ink cartridge. Hopefully you have learned everything you need to learn about saving a few dollars on ink. Now venture out into the cyber world we call, the internet, and find a program that might fit you. Whether it’s taped ink or a sponged ink, you can refill any ink cartridge.

If you’re a nature freak this will either frighten you or make you extremely happy and amused. In this article you will learn about the different ways you can turn this environment around from a bad to a good to a better. It will also teach you how to actually use the things around your house to stay warm rather than spending money on fire wood or other heating devises. So, let’s sit down, relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy the topics about to be discussed.

The year is now officially two thousand and ten and a lot of things are about to unfold. If you’re a smart person you will understand the holidays aren’t getting any cheaper and the more technology coming out every month will put a dent on your wallet. One way you can green up your holidays this year is by doing some simple things. In fact don’t wait until the holiday’s to use some of these ideas. Buy used from now on. Rather than waiting for the prices to drop, sometimes someone has already given up the item you so preciously want. Speaking of someone giving up the item you want donate your unwanted or unused items. Perhaps that scarf that you don’t need because you’re in the middle of the desert might help a kid in Alaska stay warm this year.

If you’re looking for ways to save money you can try eating in rather than eating out. Every restaurant, across the globe, over charges for the food you can make at home. Open up grandma’s cookbook and see what’s in store for you tonight. There are plenty of ways to save money. You can try reading a book, rather than watching TV, bringing your electric bill down a little. Don’t take those long showers that you love, shorten them just a little to save on the water bill. The shorter the shower, the more refreshed you might feel. Not to mention the amount you will enjoy it next time. If you have a fireplace, try burning your waste. When you sent it to the recycling plant they’ll burn it anyways. Enjoy knowing that the toilet paper roll won’t be just trashed, it’ll be used. If you have rabbits or bunnies you can use the toilet paper roll to hide treats in them.

One more way to go green this year is to increase the efficiency in burning recycled waste. Just like in the previous paragraph, when you burn your own waste it actually helps the environment as well as your pocket. Burning natural logs does not have to be bad for the environment. Take the time and chop your own wood. When the wood sits in the store, chemicals get thrown on it to keep the wood from drying out and staying fresh. The more dry the log, the longer it will burn. Remember one very important thing. Sometimes the older ways are the best. Grandpa wasn’t joking with you when he said listen to his teachings.

In conclusion being environmentally sound and economy friendly will help you not spend too much and give you the happiness of knowing you accomplished something. You’ll teach the rulers of tomorrow that by doing something today will prevent the end of tomorrow. A lot of people believe the end is near with 2012 coming around the corner. If so, let’s make it a good one!