Have you ever wondered how printers work and how they actually print a picture on to a piece of paper? Well it is all the .work of the printer toner inside the printer. The toner is basically a simple powder that is used inside the laser printer to print text and images.
The earliest for of a printer toner was a simple carbon powder, and then later on in order to improve the quality and feel of the print out the carbon powder was melted and mixed with other chemicals in order to get a better print out in the end.
The older printer models required the person to actually poor the different colour chemicals into specific holders in the printer in order to give it its colour, but luckily modern printers use sealed cartridges in them, which means there is no mess or fuss involved anymore. Over the years a lot of things have change with the humble printer, but one thing that has never changed is the four basic colours that all printers use to make all the other different colours. And those are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.
The Health Risks of Toner
Because the toner of an ink cartridge is made up of very fine powder it can have some health risks for some people. Because this fine dust will hang in the air for a while after the machine has finished printing, it can cause irritation to people with certain respiratory conditions.
A study done years ago on the black toner of a printer cartridge also revealed that it had some very harmful chemicals in it that could have negative effects on humans, and thus the composition of it had to be changed.
Over the years a lot of studies have been done on ink cartridges to ensure that they are save and free of harmful chemicals. And till today people are still doing tests and making sure that they are as save as possible. And who knows, in a few years or even tomorrow people might come up with an even saver type of ink toner and cartridge.
The Environmental Impact of Printer Toner
Another great concern about ink toner is the impact that it has on the environment. If the cartridges are not disposed of correctly then they can end up having a big negative impact on the environment. Thus if you have to replace your ink, find out if there is a place where you can take them to get them recycled or if you can even have them refilled.
If you can refill your ink then you would not only be helping the environment you will also be able to save some money in the end, as it is much cheaper to refill the ink than it is to buy new ones. So before you just throw away your next ink cartridge think about what its impact will be on the environment.