Why We Don't Refill Toner Cartridges

Hello everyone! We want to share a bit more with you today about why we aren't able to refill toner cartridges. We get asked for this service constantly and understandably so! Toner cartridges are expensive, impact the environment and should be refillable, right? Here's the whole story...

We tried it...

Once upon a time we offered toner cartridge refills. It was a great idea, was better for the environment and saved customers money! We hired a technician with the expertise and facility required to refill toner cartridges because of health regulations and the process being a bit more involved than inkjet. Customers dropped off their empties with us, we delivered them to the technician and picked them back up a couple days later and then customers came back to get their cartridges. It seemed to be working great and we were happy to make the extra efforts. However, we soon realized the end result was not what we were hoping for. Many of those refilled toners were returned because they just didn't work right. This meant wasted time and lots of frustration for both our customers and for us. We continued to refine the process and work with our technician, doing our best to understand the problems we were encountering and hoping to make it work. This went on for a while, but the results didn't improve much.

So, sadly it doesn’t work very well.

Toner cartridges aren't manufactured with refilling in mind. They are made for a single use, and although some refilling and remanufacturing is successful, often the desired results are unattainable. But, here's what you can do instead to save money and be better to the environment!

1. Buy the highest capacity cartridges available

   Buy the highest capacity cartridges available for your printer so that you'll get the most use out of a single cartridge. This is best for the environment and saves non-renewable resources, packaging and often is more cost effective too.

2. Buy compatible toner cartridges

   Look for compatible toner cartridges instead of brand names to save major cash. All of the toners we stock at Men In Ink are compatibles. We source them direct from manufacturers where possible and guarantee their performance.

3. Recycle all used toner cartridges

   98% of toner cartridge components can be recycled or re-manufactured. This will lessen the environmental impact of their use and save them from landfills (where they take 1000 years to decompose).

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