How Are Toner Cartridges Remanufactured?

There a lot of myths surrounding remanufactured toner cartridges; depending on who you ask, the low cost of a remanufactured cartridge is far outweighed by the fact that it can damage your printer irreparably or by an apparently low quality output. All nonsense, of course, but undoubtedly the kind of thing you’ve read when looking into switching from OEM cartridges.

This kind of misinformation often comes from a misunderstanding of how toner cartridges are remanufactured. A lot of people assume that remanufacturing a toner cartridge is as simple as taking the casing of an old OEM cartridge and refilling it with cheaper, lower grade toner.

In fact, this assumption is only half correct. While the process of remanufacturing a toner cartridge, as we do at Cartridge World, does involves taking previously used cartridges and refilling them with our own brand of toner, there are also a lot more things to take into account.

The Remanufacturing Process

The process of remanufacturing old toner cartridges begins with inspecting the cartridge itself for damage and wear that could render it useless. This inspection takes into account all the components of the average toner cartridge, including the hopper, the blades and the drums.

After this initial inspection, the cartridge is either deemed fit for purpose or disposed of in a responsible manner. The damage threshold for a remanufactured cartridge is surprisingly low, as damaged components are replaced in the remanufacturing process, meaning we can use a high percentage of the old cartridges we receive from home printers and businesses.

Following on from this, the toner cartridge is cleaned thoroughly before the hopper is filled with our own brand of toner. The composition of this toner, far from being a poor quality substitute, is the product of extensive research and is of a grade similar to most OEMs. While OEM toner formulations will include some extra chemicals, on the whole, our toner should deliver a similar quality end product to an OEM toner cartridge.

The cartridge is then sealed to ensure that no toner leaks from the cartridge and potentially damages the printer. We then replace any previously damaged components with high quality replacements to ensure that the cartridges conforms to our strict quality guidelines. Although ideally the whole cartridge could be recycled without the need for new parts, the environmental impact of manufacturing and using these new components is far less than that of manufacturing a toner cartridge from scratch and ensures that the cartridges works as it would if bought new.

With the cartridge remanufactured, we then test it rigorously to ensure that it works to a high standard before packaging it up and either selling it for a fraction of the cost of an OEM cartridge or resupplying it back to one of the many businesses using our Business Direct service!

For more information on our remanufactured toner cartridges, or to get your old toner cartridges remanufactured, check out the rest of the website or pop down to your local Cartridge World store.

Image Credit: GreenLaGirl on Flickr