Green Printing: Ink-Based Printers
Ink
Did you know there are two types of printer ink? Ink Jet and Solid Ink. Ink Jet printers still use cartridges, but they are much smaller than toner cartridges. Solid Ink is the newest technology and doesn’t use cartridges.
Ink Jet - these printers typically have the lowest page yield per cartridge and print quality is middle of the road. These printers are often the cheapest and you can get better print quality by spending more on the printer itself. As with Toner cartridges, you have a choice.
- OEM (New) - more expensive. However, uses the ink the printer was designed to use. Very low defective rate.
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Refilled - the cheaper option. Vendor refills the ink with “closely comparable” ink. There is a much higher probability of being defective.
Green Factor: Reduce, ReUse Smaller cartridges means less plastic. And the Refilled provide the same benefits as Toner Cartridges.
Solid Ink - these printers tend to be pricier. Their cost per page is higher and the page yield per ink block is middle of the road. However, the print quality is much higher - especially with color printing. Although there are no cartridges, there is still an option for OEM or non-OEM ink. Like Ink Jets, Solid Ink printers are designed to work specifically with the OEM Ink. Non-OEM ink is “closely comparable” and the print quality reflects it.Green Factor: Reduce Since there are no cartridges or parts, there is no plastic to discard, reuse or recycle. There is some waste as the Solid Ink is melted onto the page. However, it is minimal.
The Bottom Line
The best choice depends on your business needs and priorities. Many companies will use a variety of options. For example, we use a Xerox Solid Ink for our color printing (and are able to do the majority of our “printing” in-house), a Xerox multi-function toner-based printer as our office work horse, and HP Laser-Jets (Toner-based) at Todd’s and my desks.