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Not every printer users, specifically those who owned laser type units often use their machine’s special feature which is commonly referred to as Grayscale-printing. Well if you’re using the unit mainly for your personal printing needs, then it’s considerable if you don’t have to enable it. But if you’re printer is in the office and most of the time people who are sending print tasks on it are just in need of a draft or black&white copy, then you should enable it.

In the office, monochrome printing is more preferred than colored, however there are occasional needs for color printing. Hence, buying a color laser unit with grayscale or toner-saving feature is a great choice. But, what is its purpose if you will not use it right? As much as possible, always turn it on to help you save toner consumables.

One good example of a printer that has this efficient and economical feature is the HP M276nw which comes from LaserJet 200 Pro series. We’re not particularly sure if all models in this lineup are equipped with grayscale mode, but maybe yes. Enabling it will let your supplies specifically the HP 131A toner cartridges to last longer than you could have expected. Since when it is enabled, it reduces toner consumption but up to 50% less than regular printing.

To enable it, just toggle your printer’s properties and then go to preferences, click Color tab, and below the Color Options check the box that indicates Print in Grayscale. That’s it, now every printout that will come out of the unit will be in black&white, monochrome, or whatever you want to call it.

However, there are times when users are having problem with their units printing only in black when the said feature isn’t enabled at all. If printing a test page isn’t helping then the problem is the printer itself and not with the installed cartridges, unless the color toners are running low. But anyway such machines can’t be able to continue printing if any of the consumables inside are empty. To help you fix it, here’s your quick solution.

Your option is to hard reset the printer, restoring it back to its factory defaults. Directions are as follows:

·         Press the Setup button from the control panel (home screen display).

·         Scroll down and find Service Menu, then click it.

·         Continue scrolling until you find the button for Restore Defaults, press it and click the OK button.


 
Discount coupons are indeed useful for all customers and consumers, no matter what industry or market you’re into. Depending on your retailer or manufacturer, promos usually come once or twice a month. You’d be lucky to get three coupon codes in a month if your print supplies provider is absolutely generous. It keeps your expense lower to an absolute minimum and at the same time you have the chance to buy bulks and keep them in stock.

Now let’s say you’re just new to this kind of bargain, and you want to get yourself used to it. Here are the things that you need to know.

Find and Select

You think finding a discount coupon with a huge price-off is the first move, then you’re wrong. What you need to find first is a retailer that can give you an ample of promos and sales. Yes you may enjoy a 25% off on your shopping cart, but when will be the next chance you can get another discount? Could you wait for two to three weeks or maybe a month? What if there’s a retailer out there which gives promotions and coupon codes not only once but even twice a month. Think of what we have said and try to weigh things here, and then you’ll find it more ideal.

Choose what’s best

Since you have a copious of promo selection, the next thing you need to do is to select which is the right coupon to use. Should you avail a discount for toner cartridges simply because the price-off looks really enticing, when actually you still have lots of spares? Even they can give you good promos that are considerably irresistible, that doesn’t mean you have to avail all of them. If you do that, probably instead of saving, you actually end up getting more expenses.

Be updated and subscribe

Retailers and manufacturers have this option wherein customers can subscribe to an email newsletter or something like that. With the upcoming promotions and sales for the month delivered to their registered emails. Or you can bookmark their coupons page so you can visit it anytime you think there’s a new promo you might need. An online retailer we may suggest is TonerGreen. This eco-friendly printer cartridges provider offers great deals and discounts through using TonerGreen Coupon Codes and availing their regular promos.

Take note that there are certain requirements that most resellers and third party manufacturers would demand before you can avail the discount. Like for example, a 15% off on select items or for a certain order amount.
 
Do you know that an empty Brother toner cartridge though they say “empty” still has 605 grams of toners inside? It is a fact, and it’s the same information you will get even if you call their customer support. It’s neither on the user manual nor any printed document that you get upon purchasing the unit. So whenever a user faces the “Replace Toner” message and end up removing supplies from the unit then replacing with a new set, they’re like throwing a percent of their spent money.

Some users have resorted to using a black tape to cover the sensor chip embedded from the cartridge, hoping that it would bypass the machine and will eventually remove the error. To no avail, the message from its control panel’s status display still persists. While others were successful and fortunate to make the trick work, there’s no guarantee that it will do the same wonder to those having the exact problem.

We experienced the same issue as well, have tried a lot of tricks and done a lot of tinkering, unfortunately none of those worked. Until we found this what they technically called Toner Reset process which was originally posted in FixYourOwnPrinter. We are genuinely grateful to the one who started the thread that now we have a working solution.

Note: The procedure below was tested on a Brother MFC-9460 CDN printer, and Brother TN210 toner cartridges. It may also work with a few Brother MFC and DCP models, but we can’t give you the exact list of supported printers. Just follow the steps below and make sure you execute it properly to make it work.

Step 1. If the unit is already turned ON, just start by opening the front door (the one that you usually open when accessing the toners). Look at the screen/LCD from the control panel, there should be an indication more likely or exactly to “Cover is Open” message.

Step 2. By pressing the Clear button on the screen, navigate through the options until you reach the Reset Menu page.

Step 3. In that page, you should see a list of supported toner cartridges that you can used with your printer. Choose the right model that you want to reset. If it’s the black, then choose B.TNR-S if you’re using a small-capacity toner, or B.TNR-H for high-capacity.

Step 4. Repeat step 3, until you have reset all the four toner cartridges installed. To reset the chosen cartridge, hit or press “1”.

Step 5. For the last step, I know you’re excited to see if it works so here’s the last thing to do. Press the Clear or Back button to step back from the Reset Menu and you can now close the front door. Restart the printer, cross your fingers and hope that it worked. 

 

Staples global recycling program for used printer ink and toner cartridges have reached 350 million recycled toner cartridges and ink cartridges. Being one of the largest office supply company, they're definitely worthy to have an award for such achievement. Though I'm not particularly sure of what kind of award should they received.

Over the past 8 years, Staples Inc. continuously accept and recycle used printer cartridges globally from almost all printer users and consumers. Overall, an approximate value of 350 million cartridges have been recycled. Therefore, we can assumed that there are over 60 million spent cartridges that are being recycled every year since the company started their program in the year 2005.

Staples' Printer Cartridge Recycling Program has nearly recycled about 182 million pounds of resources like plastics and metals which are mainly use in the production of such products. According to the company, the total weight of these reuse materials collectively, it can match with the actual weight of an aircraft carrier.

Aside from the fact that Staples is one of the world's largest printer supply company. It also has an outstanding recycling program which is not only exclusive for their customers, but for everyone who would like to participate. In North America, it is the largest retailer of print supplies including ink cartridges and toner cartridges for all printer types and models.

As a customer, what else are the benefits of participating to their program? Well believe it or not, there is cash in cartridge recycling and a lot of consumers know that this is a real thing. In Staples, anyone who return their supplies for recycling purposes will receive $2 per cartridge. But they are only limited to return up to 10 cartridges per month. You see they don't want to make it a business for you to surrender a hundred of spent cartridges for a couple of bucks. What they intend to promote mainly is the practice of recycling your print supplies. With or without money in return, you should be concern enough for the environment to keep those spent cartridges until you reached like 8-10 pcs or so, then send it back to Staples. You earn by simply being environmentally responsible.

Rewards are really good to hear, but let's not make it the reason that drives you to participate on any recycling programs. Printer cartridges and other supplies can harm our environment if we don't disposed them off properly. It wouldn't harm to spend an hour or two driving off to the nearest Staples retailer and get those empty cartridges recycled.
 
One of the best seasons we always look forward is the season of fall. Although leaves from tree tops are falling which indicates the start of swearing sweaters, the warmth colors of withering leaves from autumn make a nice background. Imagining this view lead me to come up with a nifty art project that children of all ages will find it interesting to try. 

Of course we'll be needing recyclable materials like used printed sheets. But this craft is more fun to try if your printer experience leaks from ink cartridges. Basically you can't just repair the cartridge by covering up the hole and install it back to the printer. If that's the case, then this issue wouldn't be too serious to many users to request for an item replacement. Unless you don't have a defective ink cartridge, don't dare try to hammer or drill a hole in your printer's cartridge just so you can try this project. Honestly, that's not what I intend to promote here obviously. What I'm trying to teach you are the ways on how to reuse or recycle laser toner cartridges and inkjet cartridges.

To begin with the project, prepare the necessary materials including used paper sheets, paint brush, cleaning rags and towels. If you don't have a defective ink cartridges, don't dare try to hammer or drill a hole in your printer's ink tank, that's obviously not what I'm trying to promote here. Instead, you can use regular paints and choose any color you want for this painting activity.

Let's start by choosing the paper sheets you may use from the pile of used printed materials you gather. See if there are some sheets that doesn't have much prints or any graphics so you can make use of the other side for painting. Now here's the tricky and messy part. Since it's autumn, we'll try to make painted trees using your bare hands and fingers. To those who will be using inks from printer cartridges, it's best to wear hand gloves to protect your skin from direct contact with the ink. Prepare the ink or paint you prefer and wet the palm of your hands with it, then stamp it on the paper sheet. Make sure you can clearly see the shape and mark of your hands, if it's not too clear, repeat the process. After that, you can wash your hands to avoid getting any serious problems due to skin contact with the ink. Well, if it's just paint that you used, there's no need to worry that much.

The next step is by drawing the leaves of your tree, you can do this by dipping your fingers from the paint. Try to use colors that blend together, say, the autumn colors like orange red and yellow, or the standard CYMK colors of ink cartridges. Again, dip your fingers with paint and make thumb prints or finger prints on top of your tree covering its whole. Just don't overdo it, kids may get untidy and messy but don't spoil the fun, just guide them properly.

Once you're done with all the messy part, don't forget to clean the tools you used, as well as yourself. As a reminder, inks from printer cartridges may contain harmful chemicals that may result to skin irritation, it's not advisable to try using it without proper protection. Remember to keep your printer supplies on proper storage rooms to avoid getting defective and dry cartridges. If you experience leaks with items you bought from a particular store or retailer, make sure to double check the items on your purchase.


 
Recently last month, Hewlett-Packard Company - HPQ, expanded their recycling options that was previously being offered to their valued customers. HP printer loyalist might be familiar with the company's widely known recycling program called HP Planet Partners. Proudly touted as the best, not particularly sure if it's the worlds best to claim, perhaps one of the most outstanding program that offers a closed-loop recycling process for print cartridges. Just to give you a hint, since HP started the Planet Partners program, more than half a billion print cartridges have been recycled. Imagine how many spent and used cartridges were reused, resulting to the production of recycled laser toner cartridges and ink cartridges.

According to the news from HP Channel, the company collaborated with some of the most known print and office supply retailers including Staples, Makro, Dixons and El Corte Ingles. Across the countries of Europe,Middle East and Africa, they started expanding the recycling program's collection network. Reaching far beyond its limitations before, it is indeed a commending endeavor for the company to aim for additional 9,000 outlets worldwide. This goal to raise the number of retail outlets will soon became a success, and before we even know it, our cartridges had been a part of it by then.

While other countries including Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France, the Hewlett-Packard company already started working with one of their recycling partner there. The AFB (Air Force Base) Group, an IT recycling company that has been a partner of HP for quite a long time. They participated in collecting, sorting as well as sending the post-consumer waste they gathered back to HP to undergo recycling. As a matter of fact, AFB Group which is based in Australia, from 200 business establishments they successfully gathered approximately 10,000 used printer toner cartridges.

Keeping those spent cartridges out of the landfills is not an easy task, and as a consumer it is our responsibility to take actions and participate on such great programs. We may not be able to save thousands or billions of cartridges in a year, but every small contribution we made means a lot.

I guess a lot of printer users worldwide would agree with this. Since they're reusing components of used printer toner and ink cartridges to produce new original supplies. How about they lower the price of them right? Considering that they don't actually used fresh natural resources and materials, why not cut down the price of their products. If an original cartridge that is made out of virgin materials has the same price as a recycled cartridge, how is it justifiable then?


 
Many of us view printer supplies as disposable materials, though they are indeed disposable, for a fact they're also recyclable. Breaking down these consumables or disassembling them will be enough to reused the components which still have use. When cartridge recycling process was developed, they thought of it as a way to cut down the overall cost of manufacturing printer supplies. Now it is considered as a primary method of disposing printer cartridges and preventing these products from ending up in the landfills. The world of recycling seems to offer a better way of getting rid of our own waste in a green and much environment friendly manner.

Various organizations, profit and non-profit, either ways they promote and offer recycling services for any individuals or group that would like to have their post-consumer waste be recycled. They educate people about the proper ways and solutions they may use to get rid of their empty and used printer cartridges without resulting any harm to the environment. What are the items they can recycle, how are they recycled and how can they send their waste for recycling purposes. Getting rid of our e-waste isn't that hard as you think of, there are certain strategies you need to learn to be part of the recycling world.

To eliminate having land-fillers, first we need to stop viewing them as one, then find a way to reuse or recycle them. These resources might help you understand how things work and what are the things related in recycling printer cartridges.

Benefits Of Recycling
Learn facts and benefits of recycling ink and toner cartridges. Also it provides a brief information about the process of recycling empty printer consumables so we can get recycled toner cartridges and ink cartridges.

EvolveRecycle Recycling Facts
Aside from the services they offer, there's this post that gives an ample of known recycling facts for almost all sorts of electronic gadgets and devices.

What Can I Recycle
ThinkGreen provides information and solutions on how we can conserve natural resources by letting you learn when and what items to dispose and to recycled.

Disposing Ink and Toner Cartridges
This one gives a few options for you to consider when planning to get rid of your printer supplies the eco-friendly manner. You'll learn ways to earn money by simply participating to a recycling organization or build your own recycling program and have a better role to play on protecting the environment.

 
There are notes you should always remember if you want to start having a greener life, business or whatsoever. The term "green" does not always implies about diet where you take veggy and leafy bites everyday, although yes it is associated. But right now we're using that particular term to promote environmental acts that may help conserve and protect our environment through simple yet effective deeds. Back to the three notes these includes, first track your own environmental impacts (mainly the negative ones that we need to improve). Second is to determine how will you manage to get rid of those negative impacts. And lastly, never ever think that recycling will cost a fortune or will break the bank.

Starting with the first one, this specially applies to a business owner or a manager. Tracking where the money goes in and out of a business is indeed important, but don't you know that tracking your environmental impacts can also give lots of savings? For example, you're not aware that the light bulbs you're using in every floors, rooms and corners of your establishments are consuming electricity three to four times more than an eco-friendly bulb. Hence, you might have thought that your bills were quite fair, when in fact if you used LED bulbs, the power consumption along with the electricity bill you regularly pay will generally decrease. Another example, the use of regular paper materials for printing has been a tradition, but the use of recycled paper products can reduce your company's overall printing expense. You see, money is not always the factor you need to keep an eye on, there are small things you never quite expect that would create a domino effect once you started stumbling a piece.

Now that you have been clearly informed about alternative products and work-around solutions that you may imply, make a plan how to implement it. Some things are too easy to say but hard to do. Plans and goals won't be accomplished unless you make an action to achieved it. What are the things you need to change, also what are those you should keep? Don't make haste, everything should be done one step at a time, it's better to make it done for a year with such perfection than to rush things up.

Recycling is like donating without a cost. There are non profitable organizations that support several recycling programs for all types of e-waste, you just have to make a good search. With your green initiative you can even earn a few bucks through participating to such programs that promote recycling. One good example to cite are the recycling programs that most printer manufacturers offer to their customers. They shoulder the shipping expense that is necessary to collect post-consumer waste. These companies reuse their customers empty and used cartridges for recycling to produce eco-friendly toner cartridges and ink cartridges which in a way conserves natural resources. Instead of manufacturing brand new cartridges from fresh materials that comes mainly from the environment, they're utilizing post-consumer waste instead. Recycling or rather participating to such programs doesn't require any fee or amount to pay, yet you're helping to promote conservation and responsibly protecting the environment with zero cost.
 
Don't wait for your printer waste to pile up until you think of a way on how to get rid of them properly. To help you with your problem, here are some of the most eco-friendly way of disposing your used and empty cartridges where you can even earn cash.

Send it back to your respective manufacturer is one of the most and common way to properly dispose printer-post-consumer wastes. Notice that whenever you purchase replacement cartridges from branded manufacturers, they often include a special envelope inside the packaging. This indicates that the product can be returned once empty or used, and the envelopes you kept will make use by then. Mailing the cartridges back to the manufacturer requires either a box or a seal pack where you'll put the items. Additionally, most big names in the print industry such as Hewlett-Packard, Epson and Dell, these companies are willing to provide 5-10% rebates to all customers who will participate in their recycling programs. No one should worry about the shipping or mailing costs, as they will shoulder the expenses for you.

A non-profit organization that gladly accepts used printer cartridges as donations is one of the perfect choices you have. Globally, there are a few of these organizations that you should be familiar with if your planning to support such one. Local groups are also a good choice, they receive cash or monetary donations from different manufacturers for every recycled toner cartridges and ink cartridges they provide.

If charitable works are none of your business, and you certainly need cash in exchange of your empty cartridges, then might as well sell it directly. Since there are non-profit organizations, of course they have a counterpart. Consider it their business, accepting certain amounts of used cartridges from people who are in need of cash. These option, unlike the drop box recycling programs of many branded manufacturers, you can't just give them  three or four cartridges. Perhaps 10 items maybe good enough, but that's the least, a box of used ink or toner cartridges is more likely sufficient. With this option, you have to wait much longer to gather enough until you reached at least their minimum requirement.

Now if you're not concern of any money, and that you just really want to get rid of your post-consumer waste, then how about you give a visit to any Office Depot or Staples branches near you. These two stores are now accepting used ink and toner tanks for your convenience. Since they'll be taking your own garbage, neither of you will give or receive any money. Just simply take the items with you, visit their store and find the bins marked with cartridge recycling logos. If you can't find any, look for a personnel or go straight to their customer service to ask for help.

If you want a bigger role to help the environment, you may consider setting up your own recycling program in your neighborhood. It isn't hard to spread the news around that you're accepting used and empty printer cartridges, then place a recycling bin just around an accessible corner where anyone get drop their items. This sounds absurd, but come to think of it, once the bin is full of plastic ink and toner tanks, you can sell it in exchange for cash. Wouldn't that be nice, helping your neighborhood get rid of their junks, while you're getting some small amount from gathering their waste?
 
Although some would not agree that using refilled printer cartridges has a lot more of disadvantages than any advantage there is that it can provide. It is still a fact that by using such products may potentially damaged a printer with several risks which might cause irreparable damages. The same thing with refilling, no matter how skilled or knowledgeable you are when it comes to refilling printer cartridges, there's no such guarantee that it'll work at least below par compared to its OEM counterparts. Unlike with using recycled cartridges, a printer is less vulnerable to damages or even far from serious problems that any user may encounter with using refilled consumables.

Refilling a single cartridge requires a tough process, hence it's difficult to produce hundreds of refills with all that having such good quality. It's not just about the knowledge to drill a hole nor pouring the liquid ink inside a cartridge that could suffice. Try to drill a plastic container, notice that there are bits of plastic that can get stuck inside the container. Pour a liquid inside a container through a small hole, no matter how gentle you pour it, air bubbles may appear. With these two issues regarding the process of refilling, these may cause uneven prints, blotches and streaks. Worse, even if the cartridge was recognized by the machine as a new replacement, do you think the ink inside would flow normally once the bits of plastic got stock on the nozzles? Plus, considering that you alone refilled the cartridge, once your experiment doesn't work out as what you expected, how can you get your money back?

Cartridge leaks, print failures due to malfunctioning cartridge, dried inks, clogged print heads, these are just some of the common issues you might possibly encounter when you use refilled cartridges. Instead of saving money, you end up wasting it by buying refill kits, plus the time you spent with its process, all went to nothing.

The good thing about opting for recycled cartridges aside from they're environment friendly and cost you less than 50% over branded cartridges. These consumables comes from a retailer, thus there's someone you can blame for any problems that the product comes with, plus you may request to return your money for a faulty cartridge. Another note worthy to mention about recycled toner cartridges and ink cartridges is that, the third-party manufacturer replaces obsolete components as well as the chip from each cartridges. Hence it is not always necessary for the user to reset the machine whenever installing the cartridge. Additionally, recycled cartridges can last far better than refilled ones, and produce more printouts with better quality and yield.

    Author

    Fiel Mori Promotes Eco Friendly stuffs and creating environment friendly articles for everyone @PrintGreen



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