Many of us are well aware of the cost and environmental benefits of using remanufactured toner cartridges. Why pay extra for an OEM cartridge when the aftermarket can now provide you with a consumable that’s sold for half the price? One that works perfectly with your printer and generates the same print quality as the OEM.
A prevailing cause for concern is the undue build up of toner cartridge trash in landfills. What with 8 out 10 Americans discarding empty toner cartridges into garbage bins, we do have a serious matter at hand. But how much user savings does one generate in a given year? And how does this cost efficient practice of using remanufactured toner cartridges contribute to the big picture of sustainable printing?
Putting the Cost Savings and Eco-Benefits into Equation
Lets take a medium sized business with medium to high printing requirements. Say the business utilizes 8 printers, 3 of which are HP 3800 laser printers that require 1 replacement cartridge each month. Using the measurement tool developed by the NYC Department of Sanitation, we will be able to calculate the approximate savings generated from the use of third party consumables.
The OEM Q6470A cartridge loading the HP 3800 laser printer retails at around $169.99 a piece. Meanwhile, its remanufactured Q6470Acounterpart is being sold online for around $49.63. Both cartridges have a yield rating of 6,000 pages at 5% page coverage and weigh approximately 3.09 pounds each. Running this set of data into the tool will generate these results:
The use of remanufactured toner cartridges on 3 HP 3800 units that require 12 cartridge replacements in a given year translates to saving of over $4,000. Consequently, this practice prevents the disposal of at least a 100-pound volume of e-garbage into landfills. With over 75,000 tons of printer consumables dumped every year, the combined recycling efforts of individual and business printer users can really do so much to minimize its outrageous pile up.
Small and medium businesses, agencies and the more prudent Americans definitely concurred to the dollar savings derived from swapping the exorbitantly priced OEM consumables with remanufactured toner cartridges. If not, then the over 2000 cartridge remanufacturers in the United States would have ran out of business by now. Meanwhile, corporations, organizations and the more ecologically literate will find favor in the business platform of remanufacturers since the patronage of third party consumables will help minimize volume and delay its trip to landfills.
We have the aftermarket manufacturers to thank for continuously exploring technologies that support the production of OEM quality remanufactured toner cartridges.
