Footprintz

Footprints is an ink and toner refilling and cartridge maintenance service who's goal it is to extend the life of printing cartridges - through periodic replacement of wearable parts and by refilling the cartridge as many times as possible. Some years back, doing some research at work I learned a statistic that stuck with me - the plastic used to make most printing cartridges is already at the end of its usable life. Most cartridges won’t be melted down again. Re-usage is the last option for recycling. Ever since learning that I’ve been thinking about creating a viable business to refill and reuse printing cartridges. In metropolitan areas there are all kinds of ink and toner refilling services that are viable for the savings alone - but a company focusing on the reuse of the cartridges at the users end? No. Well that seemed like a good idea for a service to me. Currently companies like Staples prepay postage to have their cartridges returned, - they, in turn sell them to companies for refurb, refill and resale and although that is a great service, you can’t guarantee that cartridge will be refilled again a third time, - a fourth, etc.? We could treat printing cartridges like we treat car batteries. Recharge until the life of the product is totally spent, and then dispose of responsibly. One owner. What I do: • First I’d procure a full set of OEM cartridges for your printer. These will be s second set to trade off with the ones you have in now. When the ones in run out, those cartridges will be the first refilled. From then on we just exchange. I in turn do any maintenance on the cart, refill it, and send it back to you by mail or by delivery. Plus, refilling offers savings in the order of 50% off buying new printing cartridges. • All carts will be refilled and used as many times as they can be. I plan to reuse toner cartridges at least 6 times. Ink and inkjet carts until they won’t print anymore. (some last indefinitely) • There are other fringe benefits besides price. I refill OEM cartridges so the cart fits and prints. Refilling and upkeep are done here in Dawson so turnaround is fast, and carbon footprint further minimalized. After servicing a sticker that tracks times refilled and your efforts towards sustainability is applied to the cartridge. . I have a customer right now who has refilled a printer4 times.There are 4 carts in the machine, so this local business has kept 16 ink cartridges from going to land fill, and saved $240 in printing expenses since spring 2013. That’s just one machine! The work I do doesn’t void your manufacturer’s warranty. If you purchased your machine and you’ve had it more than a year no warranties apply anyways. BUT if you lease your machine you probably have to buy refills from your leasing company and this is probably not for you.