Toner Cartridge Wind Chimes

On the heels of my last post about inkjet cartridge lamps, I came into work today and was shown a picture of a creation from our resident handy man Ritchie Vallee. Ritch is usually doing some kind of construction work around our Facility in Southbridge, MA or helping out with toner cartridge remanufacturing.

Known to to be able to make just about anything it was no surprise he had found a way to turn a spent toner cartridge into a functional peice of artwork.

The Toner Cartridge Wind Chime is made from a single toner cartridge which from it hangs burnt out drums and Magsleves. While not the prettiest thing to look at, it sounds like a traditional wind chime.

New England Landfills Thank ELS!

What did our customers ever do for New England’s landfills?

Expert Laser Services customers have directly contributed to the duration of the landfills, not only in their own local towns, but also in Expert Laser’s home town of Southbridge as well. Within the decade the Southbridge landfill is expected to be one of only 8 active in Massachusetts receiving municipal solid waste! The town is quite proud of that fact, and Expert Laser’s customers can share in that pride. Each customer does their part to reclaim reusable materials, lessoning the impact on our landfill. Folks often wonder whether they really make any difference. Well ...

Their efforts made a difference.

The issue is laser toner cartridges. Hundreds of millions of cartridges go into dumps every year ... and the total is growing by about 12% annually! Imagine literal mountains of black, non-biodegradable, hard plastic cartridges. Well, over the past 19 years our managed print services customers are directly responsible for keeping between 100,000 and a quarter million cartridges out of our respective landfills! Since they require literally hundreds of years to decompose, even our great grandkids will appreciate it!

Most dumps quickly begin looking like ... well, dumps.

But the photo on the front panel is an actual picture of the Town Landfill in Southbridge, so you know that someone’s making a difference. At Expert Laser’s Southbridge plant we remanufacture about 1,000 cartridges per month. All parts are reused first and remanufactured as needed. Boxes, cardboard, packaging materials—everything is reclaimed as much as possible.

How “green” are we, really?

With O.E.M. manufacturers the routine is that cartridge cores are never brokendown completely. They are re-used most often just once, then discarded. Think about that: they are reused once only; it’s all done overseas saving THEIR landfills, with the work done by their workers driving THEIR economy. With Expert Laser your toner might actually rival the 9 lives of your favorite tabby! Cartridges will be remanufactured up to 8 or 10 times before finally reaching our “junkpile.” Of course, with Expert Laser even then the plastic is not just “dumped!” We have identified recycling resources for even the base cores and “non-recyclable” plastic tubes. The work is done right here in Massachusetts at our plant, bolstering our own economy. What’s more, the bottom line environmentally is that with your help we are keeping at least ...

12,000 toner cartridges per year out of our landfills!

One final shocker: Each cartridge equates chemically to two quarts of oil. So our customers are enabling us to keep the equivalent of 6,000 gallons of oil per year out of our precious landfills!

6,000 gallons of oil in our dumps is not a pretty sight.

Think about the difference that simply reusing cores makes: • Each and every new laser toner cartridge requires about two quarts of oil to manufacture! • Worldwide about 70% of used cartridges are simply trashed. • Every discarded cartridge adds about 3-1/2 pounds of solid waste to our dumps! • Every cartridge takes up to 450 years to decompose! • Reusing cores and remanufacturing cartridges cuts these numbers by up to 80%!

Can you imagine a mountain of 100,000 toner cartridges!?

Expert Laser Services is doing even more to make those mountains of cartridges into environmentally-friendly “molehills.” In co-operation with a regional environmental leader, Expert Laser Services has developed a system whereby we recycle virtually every piece of a toner cartridge.

Doesn’t “environment-friendly” imply “poor quality”?

In the early days of the recycling movement, businesses often had to settle for lesser quality if they wanted to use “green” products. That was never the case with Expert Laser Services. From our inception, top quality has been the top priority. The result was the development of a detailed and unique remanufacturing process. At our Southbridge plant every cartridge we receive undergoes a rigorous 7-step process of remanufacture before being boxed and loaded out to our trucks for another round of business productivity:

1. Our technicians do a complete disassembly of each cartridge.

2. Our eyes and hands examine each component—removing, inspecting, and either cleaning or replacing parts as necessary.

3. Left-over toner is completely purged (never re-used) in our state-of-the-art suction workstations, pulling the spent toner not into the air but into secure disposal units.

4. The cartridge’s toner hopper is refilled, matching original equipment manufacturer (O.E.M.) specifications.

5. Each refilled cartridge is professionally reassembled.

6. The exterior of each cartridge is wiped clean and relabeled as needed.
7. Every cartridge is print-tested for quality then repackaged (we even utilize reused or recycled packing materials).

Ultimately every customer using our cartridges benefits from fewer defects, and, at the same time, we all benefit! We even save money! That’s a rare bonus—dramatically cutting overall expenses while doing the right thing. It’s the reality for Expert Laser’s customers. Our managed print services customers routinely pay less than 2¢ per print including toner, routine maintenance, emergency service—everything. Sound like the best of both worlds to you? Well, that’s exactly what we offer.

Why recycle toner cartridges?

Below is a list of facts regarding toner cartridges. This list is intended to open your eyes to the harmful effects not recycling toner cartridges has on the earth. It is my hope that you will also realize how easy it is to recycle toner cartridges and how much money you can save by buying remanufactured toner cartridges.

· About 8 toner cartridges per second are thrown away in the US alone.

· About 70% of all used cartridges are trashed.

· Every remanufactured cartridge keeps 3.5 pounds of waste out of our dumps.

· Toner cartridges take hundreds of years to decompose.

· Remanufacturing reduces pollution of dumping and incineration of cartridges.

· Remanufactured toner cartridges cost 20-40% less than OEM toner cartridges.

· Remanufactured cartridges run equal to or better than OEM cartridges.

· Remanufactured toner cartridges are 100% fully recycled.

· Expert Laser Services will pick up your empty toner cartridges for FREE.

Technorati Profile

Remanufactured Toner Cartridges

When the person in charge of buying toner for your office heads out to make a purchase, they have two options available to them. They can buy a brand new OEM toner cartridge which is expensive but can be expected to run perfectly out of the box or they can buy a remanufactured toner cartridge which for the most part will be significantly cheaper but according to some likely to give you unexpected print results. How can you know if its worth buying the remanufactured cartridge? By looking into the company that makes them and the customers who buy them. A good company will supply you with a list of customers if you express interest in their product and by getting said list you can do a little homework to see if their product is worth spending your money on. A few good questions to ask about the product include, how many businesses are buying remanufactured toner cartridges from this company? What businesses are buying remanufactured toner cartridges from this company? Are these businesses return customers? When a remanufactured toner cartridge does malfunction how does the company compensate the customer for their troubles? When you find that the feedback to these questions is positive you can generally feel good about buying the remanufactured toner cartridges. If you need more peace of mind you can always check to see if the company is registered with the Better Business Bureau and check to see what their rating is in addition to being able to read customer reviews.

"Go Green" and SAVE money!?

Often times in these days of "global warming" and the growing concern about our environment, going green is an idea and philosophy that is being implemented in many different ways in many different industries around the world. However most CEO's despite their personal feelings on the subject have one thing on their mind when considering if they too should in fact "go green". How much will this cost, and can we make profit from doing such a thing? Indeed the cornucopia of ways to go green is expanding everyday, the thing is sometimes it costs money to move ahead with such an endeavor and sometimes said expense is more than a company may want to invest. However there are companies such as the company I work for ( and share in ownership as to how it is an ESOP ) that offer a service which truly is green and truly saves you money. Here at Expert Laser Services we remanufacture toner cartridges that are equal to if not above the quality of OEM cartridges and offer them to you at a fraction of the price of an OEM cartridge. These cartridges are reused many times before they are broken down and fully recycled. Since 1990 Expert Laser Services has provided top quality remanufactured cartridges in addition to laser printers, multifunctionals and copiers as well as service and supply programs to keep them running and save the customer time and money. From Brown University to AAA of Southern New England and many small and large businesses in between, Expert Laser Services has saved many companies from spending too much money and too much time managing printing costs. By buying our quality cartridges and or signing up for our PrintDOME service supply program, you will save significant amounts of money and will be helping to save our landfills and environment from thousands of pounds of solid waste which take hundreds of years to decompose.