It is time for environmentalists to wake-up............

If they have the production facility to mould, sponge fill, add chips and then fill them, I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t refill the used carts.

The only reason they want them back to prevent their refilling, a more environmentally way would be to truly embraced the refilling idea and provide OEM ink in bottles, but pigs would learn to fly first..

They would have to flush the carts first, even if you skipped that part and decided to put a new sponge/foam in them you would still have to get them open to put the new sponge/foam in place or even fill them with ink. Im sure you have probably tried to open up (pull off the top) of a Canon cart (particularly of the single colour type like the CLI range rather than combined type) and realised it can not be done easily without damaging it. In fact if you look at a couple of threads in here you will realise the damage which can be done.

Likewise for the chip, how are you going to remove that first? On the combined colour carts and their black counterparts that is a film type which is sandwiched between the carts casing to keep it in place. On the CLI and similar range the chip is glued in place or has a plastic tab holding it, which is removable with bare hands and a scalpel but a machine would not be able to do fine/delicate work like that, at least not at any rate of speed.

Ill agree with you in part about ink and manufacturers like Canon should sell their own ink bottled if they really want to encourage re-use, however im pretty sure some of the manufacturers do do that. Im pretty certain ive seen Epson branded bottled ink in some thread on this very forum.

You think its bad with ink, the current and next gen of 3D printers all have cart based systems for the plastic, rather than you just being able to feed it pellets like the earlier 3D printers.

Id agree a lot of it is to make a profit, but at the same time i can not agree using a old cart as a "renewed" cart again in MASS production would be an easy task.

The Hat said:

If they have the production facility to mould, sponge fill, add chips and then fill them, I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t refill the used carts.

The only reason they want them back to prevent their refilling, a more environmentally way would be to truly embraced the refilling idea and provide OEM ink in bottles, but pigs would learn to fly first..

Click to expand...

Meet the airborne Epson pig.

Epson has introduced a printer that refills with OEM ink delivered in reasonably priced bottles. The backside of the medal is that the printer is overpriced compared to similar printers in the same class. The concept was tested in the Czech Republic and Poland and will now be available in Germany and Ireland.

Druckerchannel.de has tested the printer and they were not impressed by the ink/print quality. The test is here in German or a Google translation to English here.

A much better option for mass producing coloured paper with photos and graphics would be the HP Pro X476, it has pigment ink and there are loads of compatibles for this printer right now like chips, inks and CISS units..

CakeHole said:

Canon definitely recycle....
http://www.canon.co.uk/About_Us/sustainability/environment/recycle/ <<Details in general what they do
http://www.applianceretailer.com.au...tailers-help-canon-reach-recycling-milestone/ << Example
http://cartridges.planetark.org/ << Organisation many manufacturers now work with

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In using Canon printers for some sixteen years, I think, I've never once come across anything, official or not, about recycling Canon cartridges. Not saying they've not done something, but I've not seen anything.

I'm not up to speed as of late, but "back when" the only cartridges that had value enough to mail somewhere had the built in print heads, like HP.

So you think canon lie on their own website and companies that claim to recycle carts obviously are not real.
Err OK if you say so.

AF

CakeHole said:

Canon definitely recycle....
http://www.canon.co.uk/About_Us/sustainability/environment/recycle/ <<Details in general what they do
http://www.applianceretailer.com.au...tailers-help-canon-reach-recycling-milestone/ << Example
http://cartridges.planetark.org/ << Organisation many manufacturers now work with

Click to expand...

A quick read of these linked articles discloses two types of recycling performed by Canon (and undoubtedly other manufacturers as well). For instance, my HP laser toner cartridges come with instructions to mail the used cartridge back to HP. On the one hand, it keeps these cartridges out of the hands of the aftermarket remanufacturers and refillers. On the other hand, one of the above mentioned articles shows a warehouse full of bins of Canon laser toner cartridges and the information that they are sent back to the original manufacturer for reprocessing, selective part replacement, refilling, and placed back into the retail stream. At the price of a laser cartridge this process must make sense to them.

Inkjet cartridges, however, are shredded and the recoverable raw material processed into other products. As other have mentioned, there is no efficient way to purge, refill, and process for resale as OEM carts. At a retail cost of $12 to $15 dollars, reprocessing makes no economic sense to Canon or any other manufacturer.

As I understand it, HP has a very strong patent on their inkjet carts with integral printheads. Since no one can manufacture such non-OEM carts legally, the aftermarket filled carts one can buy are actually reprocessed OEM HP carts.

A reasonable thought is that our refilling of OEM carts is the true process of recycling that offsets our individual purchase of potentially hundreds, if not thousands, of new OEM carts in the marketplace. Although there probably aren't enough of us refillers to make much a a dent in slowing the manufacturing and sales stream of these carts, as a group we do account for some diminution of demand and possibly some extremely small reduction in the number manufactured.

In the same vein, when we recycle plastic bottles and aluminum cans (mostly beer, I hope!) we don't have the expectation that the next brew we toss down is purchased in a used, reprocessed can. In the past, however, many types of beverage bottles were collected, cleaned, sterilized, refilled, and put back on the shelves of the grocery store. The latter is a better use of resources, but currently rarely financially feasible.

It did work, however, when I saved beer and champagne bottles (California bubbly is made in bottles with a stake-cap top like beer bottles), cleaned and sterilized them, and filled the with my own home-brewed beer (and home-brewed stout for our friends from the green Isle.) Now, that and refilling OEM carts are my kind of recycling!!!!!!

Recycling is exactly what you say and the links describe ...
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/recycle

So they are recycling, maybe not in the way we all would wish but it is recycling.

CakeHole said:

So you think canon lie on their own website and companies that claim to recycle carts obviously are not real.
Err OK if you say so.

Click to expand...

I should have mentioned in the US. Sorry.

Paul Verizzo said:

I should have mentioned in the US. Sorry.

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While America often has different definitions or spellings to words to how they are used in England. I think you will find you are the only American that has its own definition to what the word "recycle" means.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/recycle

In fact CANON USA probably have more recycling and enviromental schemes than the prior links i gave...

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/about...ous_programs#EnvironmentallyConsciousPrograms

To continue to insist they do not is a tad silly. I have a feeling based on your contribution thus far though this information will not stop you arguing your flawed beliefs though.