Refurbishing and Purchasing Refurbished Printer Toner Cartridges

The Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) LeFrak City offices initiated a program to collect and return printer toner cartridges to the manufacturers for refurbishing or recycling. In addition, DEP is attempting to purchase refurbished toner cartridges through its purchasing agents.

To date, no actual figures of spent cartridges collected or new cartridges purchased have been compiled. However, DEP was able to provide a partial count of the number and type of printers in operation at the LeFrak City location. Based on these figures, and several stated assumptions, the figures below were calculated to illustrate the potential waste reduction and cost savings that could be realized at DEP if toner cartridges were returned for recycling/refurbishing instead of disposed, and if DEP purchased refurbished cartridges.

Waste Prevented:  DEP estimates that its LeFrak City operations have approximately 800 to 1400 printers. DEP provided data for an estimated one-quarter, or 234, of these printers; therefore, the total number of printers, for these calculations, is estimated to be 936 printers. Assuming that one cartridge is replaced each quarter, DEP generates four spent cartridges/printer/year. For the 936 printers, DEP replaces 3,744 cartridges annually. If each cartridge weighs 3 lbs., then 11,232 lbs., or 5.6 tons, of waste per year is diverted from disposal.

Cost Savings:  Based on the FY98 waste export fee of $100/ton, cost savings for DOS would be $560/year. Depending on the brand and model of printer, there are significant differences in the purchase price for new and refurbished toner cartridges. Below are several examples of prices provided by DCAS and other vendors. Based on these estimates, assume an average price difference of $66. DEP would save $247,104/year in reduced purchasing costs by purchasing refurbished cartridges.

Cartridge Type

Price for Refurbished

Price for New

Hewlett Packard

$67

$82.25

Lexmark compatible

$111

$161.25

Lexmark

$90

$248

Canon

$59

$100

 

 


This page was last updated October 2001 by Science Applications International Corporation on behalf of the New York City Department of Sanitation, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and the US Environmental Protection Agency, Region II.