This article was selected from the Recyclers email today and
makes for some interested reading in these times of austerity.
The Telegraph’s Technology Advice column notes that
alternatives and refills can save money and offer an alternative to OEM
products, though sounds a note of caution.
The Telegraph article answers a reader’s query about whether
it matter that she uses recycled cartridges in printing from her HP AIO, with
the newspaper’s Rick Maybury attempting to answer whether compatible supplies
have a “discernible effect on quality”.
Maybury notes that both “recycled or compatible cartridge
and ink refills can save you money”, adding that from his point of view he
“would have no hesitation in using them on most HP models”, as well as on
“other makes where the print head is built into the ink cartridge”, as if “you
are unlucky and the print head clogs then you can just throw the cartridge
away”.
Whilst this reflects the negative trend of trashing and not
recycling the cartridges, Maybury warns that “on printers where the head is an
integral part of the printer a blockage caused by a cheap compatible cartridge
or refill ink can be fatal”.
A German consumer group and an environmental website have
both also endorsed the use of remanufactured cartridges in the past few months.
The penultimate paragraph mentions the use of cheap ink cartridges
that can block printer heads. This is a valid point when using cartridges with
poor quality inks. You will find the fitted printer heads on Epson printers are
the main manufacturer that will be affected with clogged printer heads. If you
do use cheap ink cartridges ensure that you run a rigours maintenance program
for your printer in order to preserve the life of the printer heads.
