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Los Angeles aims to ban single-use printer cartridges — new ordinance will target ink and toner that can't be properly recycled (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 30 points 7 months ago (15 children)

Repeat after me: plastic does not recycle. It inevitably degrades in the process.

Regarding printers... ink tanks is the only sensible answer.

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  • [–] 21 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    Community ink tanks, with pipelines to transmit the ink from where it is mined to substations, and on and on.

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  • [–] 20 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    Laser is the answer. Inkjet dries and clogs the jets if not used often like back when it was invented. Hardly anyone prints like that anymore.

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  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Only problem with laser is the desk size for color laser. If you don’t print very often, and you want color, a laser can take up space.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago* (1 child)

    If you don't print very often and you want color, inkjet is terrible because of the short lifespan of the cartridges. Your library will probably have a printing service available for cheap or free. I think mine does color too. I get $35 of print credit every month just for living in the county. Otherwise there's always commercial print shops like FedEx.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    We also need some sort of way to prevent heads from drying out so quickly.

    Printer companies know heads dry out, and they ship tanks with caps / tape for prevent dry out on retail store shelves. But once the tanks are installed, printers just leave the heads exposed to the air. Like a pen without a cap, the tanks dry out.

    I print like 5 times a year. So 90% of the time, when I’m replacing a tank, it’s because the damn head dried out.

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    Laser printers don’t have this problem. Their medium is already a dry powder!

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Laser toner is literally micro plastic powder that gets rolled onto paper then baked, mmm

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    What? Didn't know this

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago

    Yep, laser toner is literally plastic dust that gets rolled on then baked. That's why it doesn't smudge or rub off when wet - it's plastic.

    That's why there's so many large warnings to properly recycle toner cartridges.

    Tbf as long as the toner doesn't spill anywhere, the risk is lower than other background sources like tyre dust. Still gives me the hereby jeebies though.

    How printer dust is polluting the air? – TCTEC® Innovation - https://tctecinnovation.com/blogs/daily-blog/how-printer-dust-is-polluting-the-air

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    Only problem is size. Color lasers are chonky compared to a color inkjet. And a small printer is nice if you only print a handful of times a year. They’re easier to shove in a drawer or closer.

    The days of me dedicating 24/7 desk space to a printer is over in my house.

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