How Bad Is Printer Ink for the Environment?
Printer ink and printing are essential for large and small businesses, home offices, schools, and many more organizations to operate and communicate. Because the world has yet to get rid of paper altogether, even with today’s digital landscape, printers continue to play an important role in our daily lives.
As a common item in our lives, we must know the consequences of incorrectly disposing of printer ink and ink cartridges.
Indeed, you may already know that printer ink is toxic to the environment, but you may not know why. In this blog, you will find out.
What Is Printer Ink Composed of?
In its basic form, printer ink consists of a base and pigments that give the ink its color. But it is more complicated than that when you add the cartridge and the chemicals needed to dry the ink quickly.
Various substances are added to provide viscosity and other properties like adhesion. Common printer ink constituents include:
- Pigments Dyes
- Lubricants Resins
- Solvents Fluorescents
- Glycerin Aniline
- Dextrin Surfactants
- Wetting agents Humectants
Although toxic to the environment, these components play an essential role in making printing flawless, so we can’t eliminate them or try to change them to a biodegradable substitute (if they exist).
The printer ink base provides a platform for other components to hold on to. Dispersants ensure the ink spreads uniformly, while resins help the ink bind on the printed surface.
The components work together to control other printer ink properties, including color intensity, speed of drying, the aging process, and light reflection.
How Does Printer Ink Damage the Environment?
The damage of printing ink on the environment depends on the ink type or the manufacturing process, given that the components contain high contaminators.
The leading cause of printer ink contamination is the disposal of unused or empty ink cartridges in landfills. Billions of printer ink cartridges containing all or some residual ink are dumped into landfills each year, which is unfortunate because they are non-biodegradable.
The engineering-grade polyethylene used to make the cartridges has a slow decomposition process lasting between half to an entire millennium. During this period, the printer ink container will leak other heavy metals, such as lead, into the soil and water sources. These metals may cause health issues in human beings when consumed through food and water.
Printer ink can disrupt ecosystems if it leaches into the soil or water. The poisonous components kill some beneficial species, leading to a population explosion in some not-so-beneficial species. This upsets the ecosystem equilibrium, negatively affecting food security and water quality.
Worse still, animals usually mistake printer ink cartridges for food, causing deaths and the decline of some endangered species.
A combination of volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, and sunlight creates a photochemical reaction, releasing ozone emissions into the atmosphere.
How to Prevent Printer Ink Damage to the Environment?
The best way to reduce printer ink pollution is to ensure the cartridges don’t end up in landfills. There are several ways of doing it, mostly recycling and reusing them.
During recycling, the printer ink and the container are broken down into individual components, separated, and used for other purposes.
But, if you have an unused printer ink or toner cartridge that you won’t use, you can earn some cash and give your unused cartridge the opportunity to be used.
Companies like WeBuyToner are dedicated to buying unused ink cartridges, giving you a viable disposal option and preventing them from reaching landfills. Here is what to do:
- Visit the WeBuyToner website.
- Fill out your contact details in the provided form.
- Take a photo of the ink cartridge packaging, clearly showing the condition of the package.
- Send the photo to us and receive a quote.
- Using the provided prepaid label, send the package. Get paid. Repeat.
It’s simple! By purchasing unused ink and ink cartridges, WeBuyToner prevents ink damage to the environment and puts some needed cash in your pocket.
Why Sell Your Printer Ink Cartridges to WeBuyToner
Ink and printer ink cartridges can cause severe environmental damage. The most significant forms of damage include ozone emission, soil pollution, and pollution of water sources.
At WeBuyToner, we buy unused ink cartridges, giving you money and preventing environmental pollution.
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