Save ink Cartridges to help Plant Trees

The Quinnipiac University Entrepreneur Success Team, is launching a new fundraiser to raise money for their organization and help the environment.

QUEST is asking those wishing to aid in this admirable cause to donate their old cell phones and ink cartridges.

Franke introduced the idea to the members of QUEST, and they agreed that THINKGREEN would be ideal for a new fundraiser. "All of the members were very excited to have a fundraiser that not only helped the club, but also the environment," Franke said.

Printer ink cartridges take an extremely long time to decompose and are therefore detrimental to the environment. This fundraiser will recycle the ink cartridges in hopes of taking a step towards saving the environment.

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Staples Extends inkjet Recycling Program

An inkjet cartridge recycling program that has raised nearly $800 for the NSEA Children’s Fund will be extended through the end of the year.

The NEA Foundation and Staples, Inc., recycling program raised more than $460,000 nationwide and $790 in Nebraska in less than five months.

The Staples Recycle for Education Program provides a $1 donation to local education programs -- like the Children’s Fund -- when an empty cartridge is dropped in a recycling bin at any of Staples’ 1,100 stores nationwide. The NEA Foundation believes the program provides a meaningful and easy way for educators and others to recycle.

The drive kicked off in July 2003. Staples recycles more than 1.8 million inkjet and toner cartridges annually.

According to industry statistics, 80 percent of inkjet cartridges are thrown in the trash, where it’s expected they would remain in the waste stream for centuries.
Staples has been praised by environmental groups for its industry-leading paper procurement policy, and the 2,100 post-consumer-waste recycled content products sold at its stores.

The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE) was created by the members of the National Education Association (NEA) in 1969, and is sustained by their continuing support.

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Printer Cartridge Out of Ink | Recycle

55.6 percent of American consumers throw out their empty printer cartridges instead of recycling them, a Harris Interactive poll released today shows. Those cartridges add more than 40 million pounds of unnecessary waste to our nation's landfills. The cartridges take more than 1,000 years to decompose.

"Most consumers are unaware their used printer cartridges can easily be refilled and reused," said Phillip L. Theodore, executive vice president for Nu-kote. "It's an education process. Many people understand the need to recycle paper, aluminum and plastic. They shop for products made from recycled content. We want them to know they can also turn in their empty printer cartridges and shop for a replacement that has been 'remanufactured,' completing the life cycle of the product."

The study, conducted by Harris Interactive with a random sample of 2,079 adults, revealed 55.6 percent of Americans toss their inkjet printer cartridges in the garbage rather than returning or recycling them so they can be refilled and reused.

Almost all printer cartridges can be easily returned for reuse, with options ranging from city collection facilities to drop-off bins at local retailers. Empty cartridges are then shipped to companies that remanufacture the cartridges -- refreshing them with new ink -- and sell them. Most retailers that carry printer cartridges offer remanufactured versions, which are compatible with major-brand printers, and according to research, they perform as well as new brand-name products.

Recent research by the Rochester Institute of Technology, released in November 2004, found remanufactured printer cartridges provide the same print quality and page output as new cartridges.

"This is good information to have during the holiday shopping season," said Theodore. "If you have a new printer or a new digital camera, you'll soon need a replacement inkjet cartridge. Consumers can feel good about having more choices when it comes to finding a less expensive, environmentally friendly replacement that will perform just as well as the one supplied with the printer."

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Recycle Empty Printer Ink - Earth Day 2006

We applaud Staples for their recycling initiative! InkCanada pays up to $4.00 for each empty cartridge and is available to residents in Canada as well as the US.

Staples the Office Superstore, LLC, an affiliate of Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS), the world's largest office products company, along with Animal Planet's Jeff Corwin, today launched a nationwide cartridge recycling competition. The Staples $25,000 Cartridge Chase challenges students to form teams and collect empty ink and toner cartridges through March 1, 2006. The teams will receive $1.00 for each eligible cartridge recycled and the team that collects the most empty cartridges wins on Earth Day 2006.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 24, 2005

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Refilling Recycled Inket Printer Cartridges

For most people, refilling makes good sense, but there are a few things to be aware of:

Make sure the refill kit is for your printer model. Different printers use different technologies for putting the ink on the paper. If the wrong type of ink is used, it can degrade the output or possibly damage the printer.

While some commercial inkjets use oil-based inks, virtually all desktop inkjets for home or office use have water-based ink. The exact ink composition varies greatly between manufacturers. For example, thermal bubble inkjets need ink that is stable at higher temperatures than piezoelectric printers.

Most manufacturers require that you use only their approved ink. Refill kits normally will void your warranty.

While you can refill cartridges, be very careful of the ones that have the print head built into the cartridge. You do not want to refill these more than two or three times, or the print head will begin to deteriorate and could damage your printer.

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HP Photosmart 8250 Printer Inkjet Review

Even a quick glance at the HP Photosmart 8250 ($199.99 direct) makes it clear that this is a photo printer first. If the PictBridge connector for cameras and the slots for memory cards don't give it away, the 2.5-inch color LCD for previewing photos or video frames on memory cards certainly will.



Yet despite the obvious photo-centric features and the noteworthy photo speed and quality, the 8250 also handles text and graphics well, truly making it an all-purpose printer, and our Editors' Choice.

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Earth Day 2006 - Inkjet Cartridge Recycling

Earth Day is a name used by two different observances held annually in the (northern) spring, both intended to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's fragile environment. Earth Day is in the public domain and open to all persons to shape. Some grassroots Earth Day organizers seek to move the date of the observance to the Summer Solstice, to take advantage of the warm temperatures in the Northern hemisphere (where most people live) to create greater participation.



The original equinoctial Earth Day is celebrated in most countries on the vernal equinox to mark the precise moment that spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. At this global moment, night and day are equal length anywhere on Earth. At the South Pole, the sun sets, bringing an end to the six-month-long day, while at the North Pole, the sun rises, ending six months of continuous darkness. Anyone standing on the equator at noon will not cast a shadow. Earth Day is a day of equilibrium when differences are forgotten and nature's renewal is celebrated by all.

This annual event marks the beginning of Earth Day which has been traditionally observed with the ringing of bells. Earth Day was created to remind us of our shared responsibility to protect the planet. The United Nations celebrates Earth Day each year on the vernal equinox (around March 21). On February 26, 1971, UN Secretary-General U Thant signed a proclamation to that effect. At the moment of the equinox, the Peace Bell is rung at the UN headquarters in New York.

John McConnell first introduced the idea of a global holiday called Earth Day at a UNESCO Conference on the Environment in 1969, the same year that he designed the Earth flag. The first Earth Day proclamation was issued by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto on March 21, 1970. U Thant supported John McConnell’s global initiative to celebrate this annual spring equinox event.

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Epson Stylus Photo R2400 Inkjet Review

At $849.99 (direct), the Epson Stylus Photo R2400 obviously isn't for everyone. But if you're a serious photographer who isn't satisfied with anything less than an SLR camera and a collection of bayonet-mount lenses for taking your photos, you probably won't settle for anything less than the R2400 when it comes to printing them.

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HP PSC 1510 All-in-One Printer Inkjet Review

Most $100 all-in-ones are decidedly minimalist, with indifferent performance and no features beyond the basics. The HP PSC 1510 All-in-One ($99.99 direct) fits that mold in that it lacks both a fax capability and an automatic document feeder (ADF).



But in addition to basic printing, scanning, and copying, it offers one or two extras, most notably a PictBridge connector on the front for printing directly from cameras. And it's faster than printers that cost more than twice as much. All this adds up to just the right mix of features for a typical home or home office.

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Canon Pixma iP1600 Ink Jet Printer Review

Until we saw the Canon Pixma iP1600, we thought that the HP Deskjet 3940 Color Inkjet Printer was the epitome of the "giving away the razor to sell the blades" marketing strategy. Subtract the price of the ink cartridges that come with the 3940, and the printer itself is only $20.



But the iP1600 makes the 3940 look expensive. The iP1600's two ink cartridges cost $44.98 direct from Canon. Subtract that from the $49.99 direct price for the printer, and iP1600 itself is only $5.01. Call it the world's first disposable printer.

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HP PSC 1410 Inkjet Printer Review

Clearly aimed at the home user who needs only light-duty printing, copying, and scanning, the HP PSC 1410 All-in-One offers reasonable capability for its $79.99 (direct) price. But given that you can get notably faster AIOs with otherwise similar features for about $20 more, you'll find it truly attractive only if every penny counts.

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Lexmark P315 Inkjet Printer Review

The ink jet–based Lexmark P315 ($100 street) is a little different from other dedicated photo printers. Like most, it focuses on the 4- by 6-inch photo format. And like many, it prints directly from PictBridge cameras and a wide choice of memory card formats.



But don't plan on using it to print photos from your computer or even for transferring photo files from a memory card to your hard drive. The P315 is strictly a camera accessory. It offers direct printing only, with no way even to connect to a computer.

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HP Photosmart 428 GoGo Photo Studio Review

The HP Photosmart 428 GoGo Photo Studio ($329 direct) is a bundle that includes both a printer and camera. It's part of the HP Photosmart 420 series, a set of three packages that includes the same printer, dubbed the HP Photosmart 420 Series Printer.



(The other two bundles are the HP Photosmart 422 GoGo Photo Studio and the HP Photosmart 425 GoGo Photo Studio.) The HP Photosmart 428 comes with the HP Photosmart M517 camera, which is what we used for testing the printer. We've reviewed the M517 separately.

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Canon imageClass MF5770 Review

For those who don't need to print in color and want laser speed from their AIO, the Canon imageClass MF5770 ($500 street) offers just about everything a small office or a busy home office needs in a monochrome laser AIO.


We say just about everything, because it doesn't scan over a network. But it does give you fast performance, excellent quality text, good graphics, and the ability to fax from your PC—in addition to working as a standalone copier and fax machine. And that's enough to make it our new Editors' Choice for home and small-office monochrome laser AIOs.

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