"RoseGarden" - - - - - - - from - nscave

Here’s another take on our ‘Green’ recycle reuse type programs. We are all familiar with printers and cartridges where the manufacturers sell printers cheap, but charge an outrageous price for the cartridges. In fact, ink for inkjet printers is one of the most expensive liquids we buy today.

$20. Printer: About a week ago I bought a printer on special for twenty dollars. It said it was made entirely with recycled materials. It was an impulse buy, I didn’t really need a printer, but the timing was perfect. The price was too good to pass by. I checked the price of replacement cartridges and it was about twenty dollars for the black cartridge and twenty four for the colour cartridge – well beyond the cost of the printer itself. It still seemed like a good buy for a brand name printer.

Perfect Timing: The timing was perfect because my regular printer failed a few days later. Just out of the blue, no pun intended, it wouldn’t print anything. This seven year old printer has served me well. It is a third letter of the alphabet brand that uses four cartridges that are supposed to be more economical. That is debatable but truth be known, it has been a wonderful printer. Quiet, fast, solid, with great quality both in colour and black and white.

Print Head Failure: This printer has a replaceable print head and I suspect that is the problem since it has been on the go for seven years. (In effect with many printers when you buy a new cartridge you are getting a new print head as part of the cartridge. Not so with the brands that have multiple cartridges. They employ a separate replaceable print head.) It appears to be clogged, and no amount of cleaning will bring it back to life for any length of time. It deserves a new print head you are thinking. Well yes, I suppose it does. However, research on the internet indicates the going price for a new print head is in the range of $55.00 to $99.00 – if you are able to find one in stock. Shipping and any taxes would be added on top of that.

Don’t Replace A Cartridge or Print Head Get A New Printer: That makes my recent purchase of a $20. printer look real good. It just seems like such a waste to dump a perfectly good printer because one small part costs so much. But that is the way we are being led down the electronic paths of today. In fact, I know a couple of people that never buy cartridges, when they are empty and no longer print, they just go buy another cheap printer, cartridges included, for less than the cost of a single cartridge.

The conserve, recycle and protect program is missing so many opportunities in areas that count. The unit of plastic and electronic circuit board called a printer harms the landfill a lot more than a soft drink bottle or plastic grocery bag.

In many places you have to dispose and recycle your printers properly you say? Maybe so, but there are a lot more of them going there than necessary.

-=One Day At A Time=-       (¯`·._.·ns¢ävË·._.·´¯)

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