Managing an office with a demanding print environment? Remanufactured toner cartridges cut down on cost, waste, and the environmental impact of business printing.
Despite Lexmark’s attempt to intimidate the industry, the Supreme Court has ruled that remanufactured cartridges are perfectly legal and cannot be stopped by original manufacturers. Now, they’re enjoying newfound popularity as more and more businesses adopt them over OEM cartridges. Remanufactured toner provides many salient benefits for businesses:
1. Reduced Costs
Remanufactured toner cartridges are often much cheaper than OEM products. The savings may range from 30 to 60 percent depending on the type of toner and the brand of printer. Some, like Epson and HP, are known for producing highly efficient laser printers but expensive toner cartridges. Remanufactured cartridges often take this technology to the next level while delivering cost savings.
Likewise, a rising trend is occurring which is resulting in reengineering toner cartridges to make them efficient beyond how they were initially designed to perform. These altered cartridges are called extended yield cartridges, and they’re known for increasing the print capacity of a printer by upwards of 15 to 20 percent. It’s possible to find extended yield cartridges for most major printer brands on the market.
2. They Provide the Same Quality
Quality is critical when it comes to office printing. Smudges or faded text is simply not acceptable, especially when a document is meant for a client. However, remanufactured cartridges can deliver on this front as well. In addition to being cheaper, reputable remanufactured cartridges perform at the same quality, if not better, than OEM cartridges. Remanufacturers often make changes to the physical cartridges themselves to enable them to perform more efficiently.
However, like with all third-party sellers, buyers should perform due diligence. When selecting a remanufactured cartridge supplier, make sure to look for a reputable seller, which applies the same rigorous testing processes as OEM manufacturers. There are a few different standards which both resellers and manufacturers employ:
ISO/IEC determines cartridge yield minimums and standards. It is the most common standard against which cartridges are measured.
ITC STMC is a comprehensive evaluation which includes packaging, design, and printing yields.
ASTM primarily focuses on ink yields and outputs.
ISO/IEC standards are most commonly cited. However, it’s good to be aware of the others because they’ll sometimes appear. Never be shy about asking a remanufacturer about which standards are used. Their answer will provide a great clue as to their product’s quality.
3. Business Reinvestment Opportunities
Looking for ways to generate additional cash? Remanufactured toner cartridges are one very easy way to generate significant savings on operating expenses.
Imagine suddenly being able to spend $600 per month on toner cartridges where a company was previously spending $1000. That additional $400 could go back into the business in other more beneficial ways. Likewise, because of the way they’re made, cartridges can be recycled multiple times. A business can continue to recycle or resell them to keep the cycle going.
4. Remanufacturing Is the Best Option for Recycling
Printer cartridges occupy an interesting space when it comes to what to do with them once they’re used. On one hand, they’re made primarily from plastic and steel in a process which puts 10.6 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. These items don’t easily break down in landfills, even though some 375 million of them find their way there each year.
Likewise, toner cartridges cannot easily be recycled at municipal recycling plants either. Not only are they made out of the “wrong” type of plastic, but toner is full of plasticizers, molding agents, dyes, and even carbon black which present a hazard during deconstruction. In fact, in some places, it is illegal to throw out used toner cartridges into the trash because they’re classified as hazardous waste.
Remanufacturing, however, neatly sidesteps both of these problems. These third-party resellers are set up for managing the hazards of spent cartridges while taking advantage of their sturdy nature. Just make sure to follow USPS mail packaging requirements to prevent spills.
Get Started with Remanufactured Toner Cartridges
Remanufactured toner cartridges offer the best of all worlds: the quality of OEM cartridges with the cost savings of reselling – combined with the advantages of reducing an office’s carbon footprint. Furthermore, choosing remanufactured cartridges over OEM cartridges is a high-impact, low-disruption strategy which doesn’t require any special effort on the part of the company. With that advantage, who wouldn’t want to reap these benefits?
Cartridge World Quad Cities has been helping companies in the Bettendorf, Iowa, Davenport, Iowa, Moline, Illinois, and Rock Island, Illinois area reduce their environmental footprints and their operating expenses since 2004. Get started today with remanufactured toner cartridges by contacting us to discover your options.