Frequently Asked Questions on the Cartridge Remanufacturing Industry

Q: What is remanufacturing of printer cartridges?

A: It’s reusing and refilling ink and toner printer cartridges so they can be used again. Used cartridges are collected from consumers and businesses, and sorted by remanufactures. The cartridges are disassembled and cleaned, and any necessary replacement parts are added. High-quality toner or ink is added, and the cartridges are tested and packaged for distribution. Toner (powder form) is used in laser printers, and liquid ink is for inkjet printers.

Remanufactured cartridges contain high-quality components, and give excellent printing results. More than 3 million companies around the world already rely on these quality products for their printing needs. They trust the quality and reliability of remanufactured cartridges for their day-to-day printing needs as well as for their most important projects.

Remanufactured and compatible cartridges provide consumers an alternative to the often high-priced original equipment manufacturer (OEM) cartridges.

Q: How big is the printer supplies industry? What's at stake?

A: In 2002 almost one billion toner and inkjet cartridges were shipped worldwide, according to Lyra Research. This results in total cartridge sales worth almost $20 billion in 2002.

Plus, many printer manufacturers make the bulk of their money off of supplies revenue. Inkjet printers are often sold at sub-$100 or even sub-$50 prices, with the supplies marked up to make up the difference — the OEM cartridges can exceed $50 just for one item! Supplies are a bigger market than printers for many manufacturers. Last year, Lexmark's supplies revenue exceeded 50 percent of total revenue.

Q: How does remanufacturing help the environment?

A: Every year, more than 300 million plastic printer cartridges end up dumped in landfills in the United States and around the world — almost eight cartridges are thrown away in the United States every second, industry sources say. While we can never completely stop the cycle of cartridges entering the waste stream, we can at least stem the flow.

Remanufacturing matters. Every cartridge that we remanufacture is one fewer going directly to the landfill. For every remanufactured cartridge purchased, it’s one less new cartridge that needs to be produced, saving it from entering the waste stream and from draining the planet’s natural resources.

Q: How do printer manufacturers thwart the aftermarket?

A: Many printer manufacturers seek to limit remanufacturing, using technological and logistical barriers.

For example, Lexmark has its Prebate program, which requires users to send their cartridges back to Lexmark, rather than allowing the user to have the cartridge remanufactured by a third party. Tactics such as this control the stream of empty cartridges, making it very difficult to remanufacture cartridges.

Some printer manufacturers also go as far as to insert technology to prevent the reuse of cartridges. Almost all of Hewlett-Packard's new printers use chips to control their cartridges' interactions with the printer, including data on the level of toner or ink still available. This means that a remanufactured cartridge without a replacement (aftermarket) chip will inform the user that the cartridge is empty, even when it is full! If a replacement chip is used, a display warns the user that the cartridge is non-HP and may void the warranty.

Lexmark takes it a step further. Many of its cartridges contain "killer" chips that disable the printer if reused! And printer manufacturers are adding increasing layers of technological complexity in attempts to thwart the creation of compatible aftermarket chips. All of this dramatically slows down the entry of the aftermarket, reducing competition and reducing consumer choice. It would benefit both the environment and consumers for the cartridges to be designed so that they can be reused more easily.

A recent lawsuit by Lexmark against a manufacturer of aftermarket chips, Static Control Components, has brought this issue to the forefront. Lexmark alleges that Static Control's aftermarket chips have violated Lexmark's copyright. In documents in the case, a Lexmark employee admits that the goal of the chip is to "prevent unauthorized toner cartridges from being used with Lexmark's" printers. The lawsuit isn't about preventing copyright infringement; it's about preventing competition!

Legislation is underway in many areas to make such barriers to reuse illegal. The Waste Electronic and Electric Equipment Directive recently passed in the European Union makes it illegal to sell electronic items, such as cartridges, that contain impediments to reuse.

Q: Why is consumer choice important in printer supplies?

A: Printer manufacturers have a stranglehold on the printer supplies industry (less than 20 percent of cartridges purchased in 2001 were compatible or remanufactured, according to Lyra Research). This means that consumer choice is severely limited. Remanufactured cartridges provide good value to consumers, as they are often up to 40 percent cheaper than new cartridges.

No car manufacturer would allow requiring consumers to buy its own brand of gasoline. Consumers deserve a choice, and third-party suppliers and remanufactures provide that option.

Glossary

Back-up roller: A roller that complements the hot roll. The paper passes between the back-up roller and the hot roll, where the toner is melted (fused).

Band building system: A part of the RIP which converts the full-page bit-map image into discrete bands. At 1200 dpi these bands are 8.5" by 0.1067"—a little less than 1 square inch. Once created, the band is passed to the the EP engine for imaging onto the PC drum.

Basic I/O system (BIOS): A part of the RIP. The BIOS is responsible for capturing and buffering the incoming data stream.

Charging roll: A roller that discharges the OPC drum to a known, baseline, negative charge.

Corona wire: A wire that manufacturer sometime use in laser printers to charge the PC drum.

D-roller: A roller that picks up a new sheet of paper from the input bin and begins feeding the paper through the laser printer.

DataStream: The stream of data generated by a software application. The RIP translates this DataStream, usually encoded in a PDL such as PostScript, into a full-page bitmap image.

Developer roll: The roller which meters the toner onto the PC drum.

Electrophotographic: The system within a laser printer which exposes, develops and transfers an image to paper.

Electrophotography: The underlying technology used within a laser printer. This technology was pioneered by Xerox for use in copiers during the late 1950s.

Emulator: A software system which converts a PDL datastream into a full-page bit-map image. The RIP needs an emulator for each PDL it supports (such as PostScript or PCL 5).

Full-page bitmap image: A digital representation of an image, where a specific dot on the page is either present or not present. At 1200 x 1200 dpi, there are:
8" x 1200 = 9,600 dots across the page
10.333" x 1200 = 12,400 dots down the page
for a total of 9,600
x 12,400
= 119,040,000 individual dots on the entire page.
The band building system represents each of these dots in a single bit. Without any special handling, a full-page bitmap would take nearly 15MB of RAM to store. However, the band building system uses sophisticated memory management techniques to greatly reduce the amount of RAM required to store a full-page bitmap.

Fuser: The system which melts (fuses) toner onto the paper. The hot roll and the back-up roller comprise the fuser system.

Hot roll: A roll within the fuser system that heats up and melts (fuses) the toner onto the paper.

Input bin: The tray where new, blank paper is fed into the laser printer.

Internal network: A network interface card which filters packets coming across the network and captures those packets destined for the printer.

Media: The material the printer puts the image on, usually paper, but also envelopes, labels, card stock, etc.

MFC: All in one Multi function machine (Fax,Copier,printer,scaner)

OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer is produced by the original manufacturer.

OEM : OEM-Compatible toner cartridges. Targeted to meet or exceed OEM performance. Guaranteed to be free from defect in material and workmanship during its lifetime.

Output bin: The bin into which the printer delivers the printed media.

Page description adapter (INA) language (PDL): A PDL is a language, such as Postscript or HP PCL 5, which provides a
method of describing graphics or text output. Software applications use PDLs when printing. By using industry standards PDLs, printers can support virtually all software applications.

Paper feed mechanism: The series of rollers and guides that pull a sheet of paper through the printer.

PCL 5: One of the two most popular PDLs (the other is PostScript). Developed by HP.

Photoconductor drum: A cylinder coated with a light-sensitive compound. When exposed to light the drum becomes electrically charged. The laser exposes the drum and paints a virtual copy of the image, which is then developed and transferred to the media.

PostScript: One of the two most popular PDLs (the other is PCL 5). Developed by Adobe.

Raster image processor (RIP): A special-purpose computer which accepts an incoming datastream, converts it into a full-page bitmap image, converts that bitmap into bands, and then transfers those bands to the EP engine for printing.

Registration rollers: A set of rollers that help align the media as the paper feed mechanism draws the media through the printer.

Toner: A powder that consists of very small (8 micron) particles. The developer transfers these particles during the EP process to the PC drum, which in turn transfers them to the media. The fuser then melts the toner onto the media, thus creating the permanent image.

Transfer roll: A roller that aids in the transfer of toner from the PC drum to the paper. The paper passes between the transfer roll and the PC drum. The transfer roll attracts the toner from the PC drum and onto the paper.

Transfer station: The area in the printer where the toner is transferred from the PC drum to the paper.

Cartridge Terminology

Background

Toner particles in the non-image areas of an electrostatic print.

Blasting

Extra toner around printed characters or graphics, in an area that should be white

Carrier

Those particles in a developer mix which convey toner, but do not themselves become a part of the image in the finished print. In a liquid developer, the carrier may be called a dispersant.

Cartridge Core

Empty used cartridge

Charge Assembly

The Supply Unit when fully loaded with the magnetic roller core cleeve and other small plastic parts such as ring spacers and front and rear mounting lugs and bushings.

Charged Area Development

Development of latent electrostatic image by toner of opposite charge.

Charge Felt

Used in some cartridges to place the primary charger on the OPC Drum.

Charging

The process of establishing an electrostatic surface charge of uniform density on an insulating medium.

Cilas Granulometer

Used to measure particle size distribution of toner particles.

Cleaning Bar

See "Felt Wand"

Cleaning Blade

See "Wiper Blade"

Corona

In a general sense, the visable flow produced by ionized air in the path of a high voltage electrical discharge. In electrostatics, the specific type of charging unit employed.

Corona Charging

Charging by means of gaseus ions generated by corona.

Corona Magnet

Small magnetic strips placed inside the Corona Wire Assembly. Used to control streaking by attracting toner away from the corona wire. Not recommended.

Corona Wire

See Primary / Transfer Corona Wire

Debris Cavity

(Dust Bin, Waste chamber) Storage area in toner cartridge for waste toner

Densitometer

Measures image density and background of printed documents.

Developer

A mixture of (non magnetic) toner and carrier.

Development

The process of converting a latent electrostatic image into a viewable image.

Discharged Area Development

Development of discharged latent electrostatic image by toner which has a charge of the same polarity as the non-image area.

Doctor Blade

Metal or rubber blade located next to the Magnetic Roller. Controls the amount of toner allowed on the Magnetic Roller and the static charge applied to the toner.

DPI

(Dots per inch) The resolution of the printer, or the amount of dots it takes to print a solid black 1" line.

Erase Lamps

Lamps (Usually Red) Located in the printer. Erases the residual charge left on the OPC drum after the print cycle. Enables the OPC drum to start fresh on the next print cycle.

Exposure Lamp

Used in copiers. This lamp illuminates the image from the original allowing it to be transferred to the OPC Drum.

Felt Wand

(Cleaning Bar, Felt Wand) Plastic wand with high temp felt. Located in the fuser section of the printer. Keeps the upper fuser roller clean.

Fixing

The process of rendering a developed image permanent

Fuser Assembly

Located in the printer/copier. Melts the toner particles into the paper as it passes through the assembly.

Fusing

(Heat Fixing) The process of making a developed image permanent, by heating.

Generic Toner Kit

This is a copy of the OEM toner kit, made by a third party manufacturer to OEM Specs. Does not require recycling.

Half Tones

Images formed by groups of dots on a printed page. Each group can have its intensity adjusted by turning on some of the dots.

Heater Lamp

Located inside the upper fuser roller. Heats the upper roller to the proper melting point for the toner.

Hopper

The "box" containing the toner and including the seal itself.

Hot Seal

OEM type toner seal. The seal has a heat activated glue which is melted inside the Toner Supply Chamber to form a perfect (OEM like) seal.

HP

Hewlett Packard. Manufacturer of some of the most popular printers in the market.

Image Density

The relative blackness or color density of the developed image, as detected by the eye or measured by a reflection densitometer.

Ink Jet Printer

A printer that uses a small liquid ink cartridge to print. These cartridges can be refilled.

Lower Fuser Roller

(Pressure roller) Located in the fuser section of the printer. This roller is made of rubber and presses the paper into the Upper Fuser Roller.

Magnetic Brush Development

Development in which the toner is carried by means of a brush-like array of magnetic particles held erect under the influence of a strong magnetic field.

Magnetic Roller

(Developer roller) Located in the Toner supply chamber. This roller carries the toner from the Supply Bin to the OPC drum for image development and printing.

MICR Toner

(Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) Special magnetic Toner used in printing bank checks on plain paper.

Microfine Toner

Special Fine grain (Small particle size) toner used in printers with high resolution.

OEM

Original Equipment Manufacturer

OPC

Organic Photoconductor

Ozone

Gas produced by high voltages. Produced in Copiers and Laser Printers by the high voltage primary and transfer corona wires.

Ozone Filter

This filter is located inside the printer and usually made of carbon. It takes the Ozone gas, traps one molecule and releases oxygen which is non hazardous.

Photoconductor

A material which exhibits increased electrical conductivity when exposed to light.

Picker Finger

Located in the fuser section of the printer. These fingers keep the paper from rolling around the upper fuser roller.

PPF

(Plain Paper Fax) Usually based on either a laser printer, or Inkjet printer.

Primary Charge Roller

(Corona Roller) Rubber roller inside toner cartridge. Place primary charge on OPC drum, also erases the residual charge after the print cycle.

Primary Corona Wire

Normally located in the toner or drum cartridge. This wire places the primary charge on the OPC Drum.

Recovery Blade

(Catcher, Scavenger blade) Small thin blade located next to the Wiper Blade. Guides waste toner into Debris Cavity.

Right Hand Streak

Black Streak on the right side of the printed page. Usually caused by a dirty Primary Corona Wire on the EPS toner cartridge.

Sealing Strips

(Seal Dams) Plastic or tape seals placed in the Toner Supply Cavity to prevent toner from leaking into the cartridge during shipping before use.

Static Roller

Used in cartridges that do not use magnetic toner. Located in the Toner supply chamber. This roller carries the toner from the Supply Bin to the OPC drum for image development and printing. Used in cartridges that do not use magnetic toner.

Sublimation Dye Toner

Special toner used in making iron-on transfers for T-shirts, mugs Etc.

Supply Unit

The Hopper plus the Transfer Unit.

Toner

Chemical mix of ground plastic, lubricants, and enhancers. Used in laser printers/copiers for printing.

Transfer

The act of moving a developed image, or a portion there of, from one surface to another as by electrostatic of adhesive forces.

Transfer Charge Roller

Located in the printer. This roller places a charge on the paper which draws the toner off the OPC Drum & onto the paper.

Transfer Corona Wire

Located in the printer. This wire assembly places a charge on the paper which draws the toner off the OPC Drum & onto the paper.

Upper Fuser Roller

Teflon covered metal roller located in side the fuser section of the printer/copier. Has a heat lamp inside that heats the roller and melts the toner into the paper.

Virgin Cartridge

A toner cartridge that was used once and not yet recycled.

Wick

See "Felt Wand".

Wiper Blade

(Cleaning Blade) Metal and rubber blade located in the Debris Cavity. Cleans residual toner off the OPC Drum after the print cycle.