Before you toss that printer

A

Arthur Entlich

I'm reading a LOT of postings of people who are disposing of their
printers because they are old, clogged, banding, or no longer wanted.

Many mention tossing them in the garbage, or bringing them into places
which just recycle the materials.

Since we are approaching another EarthDay it seems like a good time to
provide alternatives that are both better for the planet and might make
other people happy, also.

Certainly, some equipment is either too old, too worn, or no longer can
be repaired due to lack of parts, but many of the printers here have
useful life left in them.

Here are a few ideas on sources to consider to donate your printer (or
other high tech items):

1: One of the fastest growing phenomenon is FREECYCLE. This is a group
of yahoo lists all over the world where people offer free goods for pick
up within their local areas. The protocol for Freecycle is usually
pretty similar throughout the groups. You can offer something, or post
a "wanted" ad. No trades or sales are allowed, only freely given goods.

You can either join the group in your area and visit the postings on a
Yahoo Group, or you can have the list sent to you each day in either
individual or digest messages. In most cases individuals correspond via
email and make arrangements to pick up the goods being given away. Once
the item is promised or taken, a taken notice is posted so people know
it is gone.

Sometime even corporations offer goods.

To find out if your area has a Freecycle simply go to the following URL
and look on the left side for the country and click, then you can look
at lists of the ones in your state or province and find one in your
city, or you can initiate one if there isn't currently.

The URL is:

http://www.freecycle.org

Still other options (in Canada) are:

http://www.reboot.on.ca/

Reboot has a network over Canada where they take older technology and
fix it up and provide it to schools and people who cannot otherwise
afford it. They charge a fee for monitors, and they recycle anything
they can't use or fix.

http://www.reducewaste.ca/resourceL...ational&lang=en&category=Reduction Strategies

The URL above is for a great many items you may wish to discard, and it
provides many options other than the land fill. Again it is a Canadian
resource. I imagine the US and other countries have similar programs.

Also, consider local charities, especially those that run Thrift shops,
computers for schools, or even charities that refurbish computers to
send to developing countries. Don't assume a printer that doesn't meet
your expectations doesn't fit someone else's. Also, sometimes the parts
from two can be put together to make one good one, or some people are
willing to spend the time to repair or clean a printer that you may not.

In the end, you'll feel you have done something positive, someone else
will be grateful, and you have saved some materials from just ending in
the landfill when they could be providing value for someone else.

Art
 
D

Douglas Adams

How does that help the fact that it is cheaper to toss the old printer and
buy a new one than it is to buy new ink cartridges...

I'd like to see companies like HP to be forced to pay for disposal of their
planned obsolesce profit drivers.
 
B

Bill 2

Arthur Entlich said:
I'm reading a LOT of postings of people who are disposing of their
printers because they are old, clogged, banding, or no longer wanted.

Many mention tossing them in the garbage, or bringing them into places
which just recycle the materials.

Since we are approaching another EarthDay it seems like a good time to
provide alternatives that are both better for the planet and might make
other people happy, also.


I'm junking my HP because the stupid piece of junk broke down after a couple
years of light use.

I'm planning on disposing it by either getting a semi to drive over it,
tossing it off an office building, or smashing it with a baseball bat a la
Office space.

I will take the remnants, sweep them up, and dispose of according to
municipal laws.
 
B

Bill 2

Douglas Adams said:
How does that help the fact that it is cheaper to toss the old printer and
buy a new one than it is to buy new ink cartridges...


Because the new printer comes with half full ink cartridges, so it's still
cheaper per page to put new cartridges in the old printer.

Or buy remanufactured carts.
 
H

Hecate

How does that help the fact that it is cheaper to toss the old printer and
buy a new one than it is to buy new ink cartridges...

I'd like to see companies like HP to be forced to pay for disposal of their
planned obsolesce profit drivers.
And if you line in the EU that date is January 1 2006.

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...
 
M

MikeD

Guess what? HP will never pay the fee; the customer will.

Like all producers selling into the EU, HP will have to pay a percentage of
their market share towards the cost of takeback and recycling from January
2006.

Mike
 
A

Arthur Entlich

It helps the environment, not your ink problems. Some people are
willing to refill cartridges, use 3rd party inks, put continuous inking
systems on printers, etc. Sending the printer back to the manufacturer
(and BTW, HP is one of the few companies that does actually offer take
it back programs in most countries) ends up having the products broken
down into recyclable materials, which is better than in the landfill,
but that's still worse than having people reuse the printer if they can
find ink that works for them.

The reason it is cheaper to buy a whole printer and cartridges than
replacement cartridges is simply the business model the printer
companies decided to use.

Art
 
A

Arthur Entlich

If it makes you feel better... ;-)

Art

Bill said:
I'm junking my HP because the stupid piece of junk broke down after a couple
years of light use.

I'm planning on disposing it by either getting a semi to drive over it,
tossing it off an office building, or smashing it with a baseball bat a la
Office space.

I will take the remnants, sweep them up, and dispose of according to
municipal laws.
 
M

measekite

MikeD said:
Like all producers selling into the EU, HP will have to pay a percentage of
their market share towards the cost of takeback and recycling from January
2006.

Mike

Guess what? HP will never pay the fee; the customer will. Like I said, HP will charge the customer.
 
G

gary

But who pays for that in the end?
The consumer - us. The problem is that the ink is just too expensive.
 
B

Bill 2

measekite said:
Guess what? HP will never pay the fee; the customer will. Like I said,
HP will charge the customer.


Guess what. You know the guy HP hired to sweep the office on Tuesdays? The
customer pays them too.
 
M

measekite

Bill said:
Guess what. You know the guy HP hired to sweep the office on Tuesdays? The
customer pays them too.
Your are right. I am also sure the customer used to pay for Carly's
panties.
 
H

Hecate

Guess what? HP will never pay the fee; the customer will.
No. If HP want to do business in the EU they have to pay.

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...
 
H

Hecate

Guess what? HP will never pay the fee; the customer will. Like I said, HP will charge the customer.
In a competitive market they will either pay up and absorb the cost or
add the price to the printer and lose market share. Totally up to
them. It's called capitalism.

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...
 
M

Mushroom

Douglas said:
How does that help the fact that it is cheaper to toss the old printer and
buy a new one than it is to buy new ink cartridges...

I'd like to see companies like HP to be forced to pay for disposal of their
planned obsolesce profit drivers.


You'l find that if you live in the Eeuropean Union that the WEEE
directive (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) will force
manufacturers of electronic equipment to take back their obselete
products and recycle them at their own cost. Of course, most of this
will actually result in slightly raised prices to the consumer. I don't
think that toner cartriges and ink cartridges are included in this
directive though...
 
O

Old Nick

On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 13:07:04 GMT, Arthur Entlich <[email protected]>
wrote something
.......and in reply I say!:
My last printer approached an Earthday............I ran over it with a
25 tonne bulldozer.

Now while the overall ecology was not served well by this, it did make
me feel better. So I did not go out and flatten 20 trees instead....

Seriously. the printer had made me so mad it was the best option all
round.
I'm reading a LOT of postings of people who are disposing of their
printers because they are old, clogged, banding, or no longer wanted.

Many mention tossing them in the garbage, or bringing them into places
which just recycle the materials.

******************************************************************************************
Whenever you have to prove to yourself that you are
not something, you probably are.

Nick White --- HEAD:Hertz Music

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

!!
<")
_/ )
( )
_//- \__/
 
A

Arthur Entlich

I think you said it best yourself:

Whenever you have to prove to yourself that you are
not something, you probably are.

;-)

Art
 

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