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Eco-friendly Solid Inks
By treehugga | September 29, 2008
A new ink technology has arrived by Xerox which is a much more environmentally friendly printing option that may well be the start of something big for the print industry.
A solid ink printer or multifunction printer uses solid sticks (or blocks) of no-mess, non-toxic ink instead of toner or inkjet cartridges. Solid ink is easy to use, produces incredible colour print quality, is cost-effective, and is very good for the environment.
Solid Ink Compared to Laser and Inkjet:
- More consistent print quality page after page and on any media
- Easier to use with no cartridges to load and unload, and no mess
- Less waste with no cartridges to dispose of, and far less packaging
- No paper curling or wrinkling that often plagues inkjet and colour laser printers
- Fewer parts so there’s less that can go wrong
- Faster than inkjet technology
- No special paper needed, unlike some inkjet printers
- A wider range of colours are printed by solid ink than most colour laser devices
Non-toxic ink is resin-based, similar to a crayon, so the sticks are safe to handle by anyone and it won’t stain your clothes or your skin. Capacities of ink sticks can be up to 1,000 or 2,300 pages depending on the device and you can load up to 5 sticks at a time (depending on printer) of each colour in a solid ink device for long, uninterrupted printing.
Cost-effective – low purchase price and comparable cost per print to laser makes solid ink easy on your budget:
- Environmentally Friendly
- Less waste than colour laser printers with no cartridges to dispose of and far less packaging to add to landfills
- Less energy is used to manufacture solid ink because of the simplicity of the design
- High Print Quality
- Consistent print quality from the first page of a print job to the last and one job to another
- Dense, saturated colour in solid fills instead of “banding” or streaking that’s often found in large areas of colour
Currently then you will need a solid ink printer from Xerox to use these eco-friendly inks but they seem so good that the industry may well adopt them as the standard – we certainly hope so anyway as there is so much ink waste that something needs to be done to help the environment.
Topics: Green News, Green Technology | 2 Comments »
October 3rd, 2008 at 3:59 am
a very nice substitute to the typical ink jet cartridges which sometimes gets clogged up, could there be a downside to use it?
October 4th, 2008 at 5:30 am
I’m always pleased to see blogs like yours because they share my point of view. If you’d like, you can check out
http://www.alternative-energy-secrets.com. I often go there for I have the same sentiments when it comes to cO2 emissions and how to save up money using alternative, energy-saving methods.