Inkdepot.com.au - Ink and Toner Cartridges

Just when we were starting to think that the price of crude oil was going to linger at “inexpensive” levels for some time, it has sustained a steady rise over the past week. While it may just be a brief spike, it may also be the inevitable consequence of what seems to be a recovering US economy.

Here’s a hint: After the latest wave of bank stress tests, the US federal regulators proclaimed that the banks were faring much better than they anticipated. 

If Wall Street continues to rally as it already has since that latest development, oil prices are sure to follow suit. And as we have seen, it has already started doing so.

Yes, oil prices and the US economy are newsworthy, alright. 

But why talk about them in an ink blog? 

Unless of course ink is dependent on oil … Is it?

Apparently, it is. In fact, no less than leaders in the industry are saying that it takes 2 liters of oil to make just one pound of laser toner powder. That’s about the amount of powder that goes into one oil-based cartridge.

Let’s try to put some numbers to work based on that info.

Oil and cartridge relationships

In the US alone, businesses, institutions, as well as their government itself consume at least 100 million cartridges every year. That should translate to 100 million pounds or, if you perform the necessary conversions, roughly 50,000 tons. 

If we factor the 2 liters of oil per one pound of toner into the solution, that should give us a whopping 200 million liters or 1.2 million barrels of oil per year. Based on the current price of $US56.98 per barrel alone, that would be equivalent to $US68.4 million or, using the exchange rate of AU$1  = US$0.75, AU$91.2 million per year.

Obviously, there is a need to reduce the ink industry’s dependence on crude oil. Lucky for us, a glimmer of hope is rising on the horizon. PRC Technologies, a division of Print Recovery Concepts, Inc., has introduced a breakthrough in laser printer cartridges technology - toner powder from soybeans. 

Soybean based cartridges

Under the SoyPrint (TM) brand, PRC Technologies will be supplying soybean-based laser cartridges at prices competitive with brand name, oil-based versions. The products are guaranteed to print the same number of pages as their oil-based counterparts and are safe for todays printers. What’s more, initial tests show that the quality of print outputs are indistinguishable between a branded cartridge and a soy cartridge. 

Since these cartridges are coming from a renewable source (soybean plantations can be put up to meet the demand), it will be healthy for our environment, one big component of our world that is gaining a lot of media mileage but isn’t getting much of the needed protection. The vital role of online and local ink and toner cartridge stores cannot be overemphasized. Once these kind of earth-friendly products are made available through these sources, end users can easily do their part.

Finally, this might also pave the way for more researches on other alternative sources. Corn, coconut, and jatropha perhaps? 

When that happens, you won’t have to leave your work desk for a snack.

Check out our Green policy for what you can do to help the environment.