Tag Archives: Negative Impact


Reducing carbon footprint with printer cartridges

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Finally in the fight for the cause of environmental security measures, one company is trying to take a stand. After decades of waste one printer manufacturer is starting to sit up and take notice. Lexmark has taken the first of many steps in the right direction.

In celebration of Earth Day, today Lexmark released the findings of a Life Cycle Assessment that looked into the environmental impact of discarded toner cartridges. Finding that sending a used toner cartridge back to Lexmark for recycling, as opposed to discarding it in the trash, reduces the overall carbon footprint of those toner cartridges by up to 60 percent.

By throwing away your used printer cartridges creates large volumes of waste, but did you know that it takes 2.5 quarts of oil to produce the petroleum product that creates the plastic shell of a printer cartridge. So reducing the carbon footprint will allow countries the vantage of existence independent of foreign oil.

Lexmark runs free collection programs for its ink and toner cartridges. On Lexmark’s website, you can request a prepaid return envelope for printer cartridges or print a return label for multiple toner cartridges (remember to save the box it came in) to send them back to Lexmark for recycling. Lexmark pledges that 100% of the printer cartridges it collects are either reused or remanufactured for recycling.

Also celebrated for a company that makes its money by marketing printers and printer cartridges, Lexmark urges customers to print less. “They have made it a priority to train its customers on what steps they can take to implement responsible printing practices, such as printing less and recycling, to reduce the negative impact to the environment,” said Marty Canning, Lexmark vice president and president of its Printing Solutions and Services Division. They suggest customers print only what they need, use double-sided prints as much as possible, and employ digital document processes and paper-less features such as scan-to-email to share documents. The company also recommends purchasing the highest-yield printer cartridges, which helps cut costs and reduce waste.

Another benefit of recycling toner cartridges is the cost advantage. Typically a recycled toner cartridge costs less to manufacture and that savings is passed on to the consumer. So the next time your in the market for a printer cartridge, Check with your local supplier and try and take advantage of going green. Your children and grandchildren will thank you for it when their not too busy texting.

Easy Ways to be Green at Work and at Home

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As time goes on, the negative impact caused to our wonderful planet by the human race is becoming increasingly obvious.

That’s probably the understatement of the year thus far!

We can all as individuals do small things to counteract or reduce the perpetual damage we are causing.

Recycling, for example has been made simple for us both at home and at the office. It is effective and easy  and we’ve been aware of it for many years .

There are facilities available to recycle our plastic, glass and most metal items. This can be effected at home and by taking the items to a local depot or to convenient recycling areas

We can all save power by switching off lights in empty rooms or offices. We can learn to turn off power sources to various appliances and not leave them on ‘standby’.

we do not need to drink and eat from disposable cups and plates . Some materials from which these are manufactured may be biodegradable but many are not.  A china cup improves the pleasure of drinking a cup of coffee or tea immeasurably. That alone is a real benefit to the consumer.

Bottled water is a total waste of our resources when good, clean, drinkable water is so readily available to all.  Recent reports show that the amount of plastic waste from packaging generated each year in the UK alone is estimated at 1.5 million tonnes.  Reducing that figure would do wonders for our environment.

Email is a boon to society as  thanks to the ‘information age’ we can share our ideas, news items, jokes and anecdotes with everyone without the use of paper resources. Just remember not to print! Few  emails are so important that we need a copy to keep for posterity .

A significant move towards being ‘eco aware’ in the workplace is the use of recycled materials in the production of office furniture. 

A product called Wheatboard has been introduced. It is a by product of wheat straw and would normally  be discarded and burnt or left in landfills . It uses no formaldehyde in it’s construction and when produced into boards, is incredibly versatile as it may be painted, varnished, sealed etc and formed into many designs.

It’s qualities of being lightweight and extremely durable have made it a viable alternative to wood and a renewable material perfect  for making  office desks, cabinets and cupboards as well as items of furniture for the home.

We can all become ‘eco aware’ both  at home or work with merely  a little thought and practical application.