Since I’ve been thinking about reducing waste and because I already went through an entire black inkjet cartridge and half a coloured one in the process of writing my thesis I thought I should point out an awesome program from Canadian office supply company Grand & Toy. Like most office supply stores they sell ink cartridges for a wide range of printers, but they also have a “Grand & Toy” brand alternative for pretty much all of these popular cartridges. In my case I needed the HP56 cartridge, and there is a Grand & Toy cartridge (#99377) that is cheaper and fits the same machine. Why does it fit the same machine? Because it’s simply a refilled HP56 cartridge! But my favourite thing about them is that whenever you buy a Grand & Toy brand inkjet cartridge, it comes with an envelope that you can use to send your used cartridge back to Grand & Toy (not postage required) and they will fill it with ink again and resell it. That’s much less work and more efficient than dropping the cartridge off at a collection point for all kinds of chemical waste.
In my previous round of cartridge replacement I had a Grand & Toy cartridge and an HP cartridge (they didn’t have G&T brand for one of the ones I needed) and while unwrapping both cartridges I also noticed that the G&T cartridge used less packing material. Plus, the fact that they’re being refilled in Canada* also means they don’t travel as far. So if you’re printing in Canada, skip the name brands and buy your cartridges at Grand & Toy. They’re both cheaper and greener. The G&T alternative cartridges are right next to the name brand original in the store, so you can easily find them. If you buy them online you need to know your printer model.
*The address on the envelope is an office Oakville, ON. I thought I found a reference earlier to a refill centre in Mississauga but I can’t find it now. Anyway, if you live somewhere else, there’s probably something local to you as well. It’s no point ordering refilled cartridges online and having them ship really far.
Keep in mind that Hewlett Packard ink jet cartridges have the print heads built in rather than on the printer like other brands. So when the cartridge is refilled the print quality goes down, and it can only be gotten away with a few times (and can make a big difference pretty quickly). I’d be wary of buying continually refilled HP cartridges for this reason. They just aren’t designed for it and it makes me think the person doing it doesn’t really understand how the HP system works.
This is also why HP cartridges are expensive, you’re paying for more then new ink. It does mean the print quality remains good and that the printers overall tend to last a lot longer (apparently worn down print heads is a common cause of printer failure), but it’s a trade off.
Dell has the same concept for their cartrigdges. If you order DelI cartrigdes they too come with an envelope to send them back to Dell. I don’t know it they are refilled, but I certainly hope so.
Good point. I don’t know how often they refill them, but they can tell from the cartridge you send back if it was used once (new HP) or refilled (with G&T label). My colour cartridge this time around isn’t very great (the red is hot pink) but I haven’t had any problems with the black ones so far.
I hadn’t heard of Grand & Toy – useful to know. I also have an HP printer, and have spent some time thinking about the cartridges. If you go to you can order an envelope to be sent to you that you can use to return several cartridges, postage prepaid. The envelope is plastic (I guess it has to be to prevent spillage problems), but they say they recycle that too! And they only go as far as Burlington, ON if you order it from Canada. Being HP, I expect they don’t actually reuse the cartridge, though.
I also recently discovered that HP sells extra-large cartridges for some printers, which is cool cause it’s both cheaper and about half the waste.
Oops – html problems in that last comment – sorry. The link is to HP’s recycling site.
I use a laser printer because I rarely need to print in colour and the cost per page is much lower: under 3.1 cents/page excluding paper. When I get a new HP laser cartridge, it comes with a prepaid shipping label so that you can stick your old cartridge in the box and send it back to them. You’re recycling the cartridge and the packing material! And I do always get the high-yield cartridges. They cost 30% more but give you 40% more pages.
fyi…i was just in Grand & Toy… they now REFILL inkjet cartridges in some Toronto stores
Hi,
I am looking for ink cartridges for the Epson CX3100. I have bought compatibles in the past but the ink quality is not so great or the chips dont recognise. Any help would be appreciated