It has become a lost art - the disposable society has got used to throwing everything away and ordering a new one. Take the simple printer toner cartridge - the average laser printer has four of them - each one takes about 2 liters of oil to produce. Inside is a very fine toner ink which is used to do the actual printing - when this runs out we throw the whole manufactured component away - it's almost like throwing your car away after you've used up all it's petrol. The printer toner cartridge just like your car can carry on working perfectly if it's refilled.

That's all it needs - put some ink in it and you're back printing - sound so simple doesn't it? Unfortunately the printer manufacturers don't want you to do this - they want you to buy a new one because that's where they make their profits. Even the green eco recycling schemes are really not necessary at this stage - you don't need to recycle it yet - the printer toner cartridge has just run out of ink.

There used to be little stoppers on the cartridges so you could refill them - they've gone now - that made them too refillable. Having said that it is surprisingly easy to refill the majority of printer toner cartridges with ease - just takes a little time (about ten minutes is my average)

The process varies between models but it's basically -

1. Make hole to pour in new toner ink.
2. Put in Toner carefully into the printer toner cartridge.
3. Put stopper in for refilling next time.
4. Place toner cartridge back in the printer.
5. Carry on printing.

It's not rocket science, you need no real skills - pretty much anyone can do it. Of course the process is slightly longer than putting in a brand new cartridge but not greatly. The costs savings vary quite a bit depending on which printer toner cartridge you are refilling but you can save up to 87% on the costs of a new cartridge. Many small businesses that do a lot of printing literally save thousands on the cost of buying a new printer toner cartridge.

The environmental benefits would be huge if everyone did this - 44 million new printer toner cartridges produced each year in Europe alone - approximately 75% of these are only used once then needlessly thrown away or recycled.

There are so many benefits to refilling your printer toner cartridge that it makes sense on many levels. You can help the environment and save loads of money and your print quality is maintained.