While most people think of liquid ink when they think of printers, a good percentage of modern office and home printers actually use something called toner. Toner is a fine powder that laser printers use in the place of traditional printer ink.
Laser printers will all have a separate cartridge that deals with the excess or waste toner that doesn’t make it to the page of your printing jobs. Over time, this cartridge will fill up. Eventually, you’ll be prompted that the waste toner cartridge is full and that it needs to be replaced.
You have the option of disposing of your existing cartridge and replacing it with a new one, but the far most cost-effective option is to empty this waste toner cartridge yourself. Below, we’re going to step you through how you can save on your printing expenses by handling this process yourself.
First thing’s first
Few points to start off with. It is important to note here that toner is not something you want to be breathing in or spending much time being exposed to. As it is a fine powder that can easily become airborne when disturbed, this means being very careful.
Avoid blowing any loose toner into suspension, and be careful that you’re moving deliberately and carefully, and you shouldn’t have any problems. Just to be safe, we recommend that you use disposable gloves and a pair of pliers on top of the plastic bag you’ll be using to collect the waste toner.
One – Remove the waste toner cartridge
The first step is to safely remove the waste toner cartridge from your printer. You’ll have an access door on your printer that you can open. Behind this door you’ll find both the toner cartridges that you print with, and the waste toner collection cartridge that is filled up. Carefully remove this waste toner cartridge.
Two – Place your waste toner cartridge directly into your bag
Now, place the waste toner cartridge directly into your plastic bag. Once it’s there, you will now need to remove the plug that is holding in the waste toner. You can do this wearing your gloves and taking the plug out either with your hand or with the help of a pair of pliers.
Three – Temporarily seal your collection bag
Once the plug is removed, you will then want to temporarily seal the bag in which your waste toner cartridge is being emptied. This will give the freedom to up turn your waste cartridge and carefully empty any waste toner into the bag without spreading it throughout the space in which you’re working.
Four – Return your waste cartridge to your printer
Once you’ve emptied your waste cartridge into the bag. You can now carefully unseal your bag, replace your waste toner cartridge plug. Check that you don’t have any residual toner hanging on to the outside of your container and return your cartridge to your printer. Throw your gloves into the plastic disposal bag, seal it up, and you’re done!
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