Sunday, June 27, 2010

Green Summer Tips

Summer is here, it's hot and all we can think about is sipping cool drinks, BB Q's, traveling, letting the kids run under the sprinkler and just relaxing. You can remain green even in the heat of summer, here are a few of my favorite tips:
1. Buy Local: Farmers markets are popping up all over you can cut down on the use of fossil fuel used to transport food across the country. You are getting the freshest of foods plus helping the local economy.
2. Plant a home garden: It's an excellent family activity
3. Gas BB Q'S:are much cleaner for our air than using wood or charcoal. If you must use charcoal try all natural Cowboy Charcoal.
4. Make your own Popsicles reusing the mold over and over again instead of buying boxes all summer long.
5. Going on a picnic? Bring plates & silverware from home instead of using disposable items
6. Drink plenty of cold water (that is kept in your fridge) this drops your body's core temperature down without using AC.
7. Use Chemical Free Bug Repellents like garlic & rosemary for skeeters or vegetable oil & aloe gel for ticks and mosquito's.
8. Turn your AC down a few degrees, saves money and helps the planet
9. Use a ceiling fan, along with your AC. In a room of normal height (8-10FT), you should operate your fan so that it turns clockwise causing a more directed downdraft. This causes a wind chill effect because the skin evaporates slight amounts of water from the sweat glands and therefore provides cooling through the skin's surface
10. Keep your blinds and drapes closed and your house will stay cooler
11. Use the microwave instead of the oven reduces excess heat in the house
12. Turn off all unnecessary lights when not in use.
13. Use a clothesline
14. Use a drying rack for your dishes
15. Water plants and lawns only when necessary and not at high noon. Water in the early morning or early evening.
16. Use solar lighting outside whenever possible
17. Find local activities to do instead of long trips

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Top Tips When Buying A Printer

1. Before you buy a printer check to see how easy it is to remove a paper jam or change your ink cartridge. If you use special paper and forms, bring them along to the store to make sure the printer can handle it. Check the space where you will be placing the printer, is there enough room for the paper tray?

2. If you are replacing an older printer, be sure you have updated parallel port cables. Older cables can cause poor quality output, freezes and other problems because they were not built to handle today's data.

3. You'll save money in the long run, if you purchase a printer with at least a four color system. You replace the ink only of the used cartridge and not wasting the other colors.

4. Install a new printer and it's not working? Be sure you have changed the printer default

5. What is the kind of output you plan to print? Text, graphics, photos, each is a different need for a printer. laser printers offer the best text quality and inkjets offer the best photo and graphics quality.

6. If you only need to print in black, a monochrome laser printer is the best choice. It is faster than color inkjet printers and provides higher quality text. The cost to run a monochrome laser is usually less than inkjets.

7. When checking the speed a printer's output is, check on the setting you will most likely be using. The higher quality you need, the slower the printing.

8. Do you really need a network printer?

9. Not all printers allow memory upgrades, some printers do not need memory and print directly from your computer.

10. A good rule of thumb is to pick a printer with a monthly duty cycle that is about 3-4x the number of pages you expect to print.

11. Check the price of the cartridges. Are there new compatible or refilled cartridges available or do you have to buy just the OEM cartridges. Running a laser printer is cheaper than an inkjet printer.

12. Do you need a multifunctional printer?

13. If you have any questions on your next printer, please feel free to call us at 800 459 2626 for advice.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Throwing A Green Super Bowl Party

Did you know the Super Bowl is going green this year. You can do it at home just as easy. Just follow a few suggested listed below:
1. Send an evite - use online invitation sites like evite.com or pingg.com instead of mailing the paper invitations. This save on money too.
2. Stay away from the tradition decorations. Use fresh fruit, flowers and food instead. Use LED lights in your teams colors.
3. Go Organic or use local food - serve local food from your farmers market. If you really want, go vegetarian - it takes less energy to get a pound of vegetables rather than meat, plus it's healthier. Pizza delivery is up 30% Super Bowl day, but those boxes they come in aren't recyclable. Make your own pizza.
4. Recycle your small TV ; Big screen TV sales go up 60% right before the Super Bowl. If you must get a new TV at least get an energy efficient one. You can lease for the big game too. Donate your old TV or sell it on Craigslist. You'll keep mercury, lead and other waste out of landfills.
5. Use real dishes and glasses: Paper and plastic may be easier but they fill up the landfills. If you need to buy paper, at least buy biodegradable plates, napkins and cups. Be sure to use eco-friendly dishwasher detergent.
6. Use Recycle Bins: Place bins for your guests to sort their garbage.
7. Beer: Buy local brewed beer
8. Have your guests carpool
9. Halftime flush: it's estimated that 90 million people flush toilets during halftime. Invest in a water-efficient toilet or even the waterless urinals. If the party is in your house use bathroom towels instead of paper.
10. BET ONLINE

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Why Recycle Toner Cartridges

Toner cartridges are not environmentaly friendly. Some estimate that 13 cartridges are thrown away in the US every second! One years worth of discarded cartridges placed end to end, would cover the distance around the earth three times! This is an unbelievable amount of waste that is being added to our landfills. Every year the US is responsible for consuming more than 500 million inkjets with 80% being discarded into landfills. This amounts to 75,000 tons of trash. That is just inkjets, add to that laser, copier and fax cartridges. With more and more printers being used everyday, this number is only going to go up.

Recycling and remanufacuring toner cartridges helps reduce the impact on the environment. The cartridges are not made of organic materials and take a long period of time to decomposse in the earth. The plastic core takes 1000 years. A portion of the numbers are incinerated sending toxic fumes and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and further adding to global warming. An enormous amount of money is spent each year for landill management.

The average toner cartridge is made of 40% plastic, 40% metal and smaller amounts of rubber, paper, foam and toner. The plastic in the cartridges is a petroleum based product. The average inkjet uses 3.5 ounces of oil to produce and a laser cartridge can take up to a gallon. The energy to produce a new cartridge is several times greater than recycling your old cartridge. You are also saving on water usage. It takes three pounds of resources to make a new inkjet. A survey was done in 2007, which stated that the recycled cartridges prevented about 9,000 tons of greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere. In less than one year, recycling cartridges in Europe could save more oil than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez into the Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989, 11,000,000 gallons!

Some ink in cartridges are toxic too. By placing the cartridge in landfills, some ink leakage occurs and toxic chemicals are leaked into your ground and drinking water. Cartridges are important to keep our offices going but the waste takes a toll on our envirnment and budgets for both corporate or the home user. Purchasing from a remanufacturer not only saves you money, but puts dollars back into the local economy. buying remanufactured not only saves you money, but puts dollars back in the local economy. Buying remanufacured cartridges cost between 30-70% less than the OEM, not to mention the fact that it is costing tax-payers more money by schools, government and businesses by not purchasing remanufactured.

It is important to buy your remanufured cartridges from a reputable company that will guarantee their products. In the 1990's there were many disreputable remanufacurers who were using the "drill and fill" method which created poor quality products. The quality of remanufacured cartridges has improved since we started in 1993. Remanufactured cartridges holds as much ink or more than the original cartridge.

Recycling 100,00 cartridges saves 9,599 kilograms of aluminum, 1 million liters of oil and 30 tons of plastic. You might not think one or two cartridges doesn't make a difference but just think of the time it takes to disintegrate. Every individual should be doing their job and keeping the cartridge out of landfills.

Written by Jackie Berman, Cartridge Renewal systems, 732 845 9497 or 800 459 2626
Jackie@cartridgerenewal.com
Remanufacturing cartridges since 1993
Voter one of the Best by the Asbury park Press 2008, 2009
Follow me at twitter.com/tonerdiva

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Creating A Greener Workplace

How Green is your office? Being a greener office is not a difficult thing to achieve. Look around your office and you’d be amazed what you can think of to become greener. Just follow a few suggestions and you are already helping the environment. First you can choose from a wide variety, not costly biodegradable packing peanuts, non-toxic erase markers, recycled scissors, fewer chemicals, especially “green chemicals”. Change the type of lightbulbs you use to compact fluorescent bulbs, This saves about 75% energy plus they last 10X longer. Use mugs instead of disposable cups. 1 person buys 3 cups of coffee a day, 5 days a week for 1 year, that equals 600 cups that end up in the landfill.
Unplug your technology when not in use. Up to 75% of the electricity used to power office equipment is consumed while the item is turned off, but still plugged in. Be sure to buy power saving office equipment. Recycle your paper, print on both sides. By recycling 1 ton of paper you have saved 17 trees, almost 7,000 gallons of water and more than 3 cubic yards of landfill space. Cut up your used paper, use the back for messages. Reuse office supplies like paper clips as much as possible. Place recycle bins around the office.
It takes 1000 years for your toner cartridges to decompose in landfills. It takes up to 6 pints of oil to produce 1 printer cartridge. By buying remanufactured ink and toner cartridges you are saving water, energy and material resources, plus you are saving money in the cost of the cartridge and even the landfill tax that is passed on to you the consumer.
Do you have any recycling tips? Please pass them along and they can be included in Cartridge Renewals Systems recycling tip newsletter. Want to receive their newsletter, just e-mail info@cartridgerenewal.com. E-Mail on great pricing for all your toner needs.