Turns out you’ve got another reason to go Office Space on your InkJet. It’s something that geeks have suspected for quite some time, printers are set to report that cartridges are out of ink far before they actually are.
EPSON (who turned out to be least evil) commissioned the study to determine how full cartridges were when they reported they were "out of ink." The results…some printers report they are "out of ink" when they’re only half empty. Worse, the firmware will continue to nag you about it and occasionally will not even allow you to print until you replace the cartridge. Kodak came in last place, wasting up to 60% of ink, while Epson faired best, wasting about 20%.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, since one can literally by a new printer for the same cost as new ink cartridges. This kind of hyper-disposable attitude is completely the opposite of what EcoGeek stands for, and I’ve got a mind to take my printer out into an empty field right now and introduce it to Mr. Louisville.
But for those of you who really do need printers, here are a few tips:
- Avoid single cartridge printers, as the cartridges need to be replaced every time a single color runs out
- Always recycle ink cartridges, all big stores will take them as printer companies will actually pay to get them back
- Print in black and white as often as possible. No reason to waste expensive color ink 95% of the time
- Never listen when your printer says it’s out of ink. It’s lying.
Via TreeHugger and Ars Technica
See also
–Reusable Plastic Paper–
–Electronic Paper–
–EcoGeek Newsletter–