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The green movement began in the 1960s and was officially recognized with the first Earth Day in 1970. Now, companies offer environmentally friendly printers with features such as double-sided printing, recyclable materials, and power-saving modes. Some printers use different cartridges for each color to reduce waste. One company has even designed a printer that works with human energy and coffee grounds. Eco-friendly printers also have double-sided printing capabilities and some use ultraviolet light or thermal processes to erase ink on reusable paper.
The “green” movement that began in the 1960s was officially recognized when the first annual Earth Day was celebrated in 1970. At the time, the computer industry was in its infancy and the technology for environmentally friendly printers did not develop for several decades after. Now, different companies have made green printing available with various innovations. These improvements include double-sided printing, the use of recyclable materials, soy ink and printers with faster start-up times. There are also environmentally friendly printers made from biodegradable plastic.
Many environmentally friendly printers are designed with a power saving feature, sometimes called sleep mode. This causes them to automatically shut down to a stand-by state when they have not been used for 10 minutes. Some green printers are Energy Star rated. Energy Star is a US government sponsored program that lets consumers know which products use the least energy to operate and are the most environmentally friendly.
Inkjet printers are popular as they are less expensive to purchase than laser printers and can print virtually any color. Since replacing ink cartridges can get expensive, this is an area that companies have been targeting for environmentally friendly improvements. Many printers use two cartridges: one for black ink and one for supplying various colors. When a color is running low, the software may indicate that the cartridge needs to be replaced, which has resulted in an untold number of cartridges being sent to landfills that are still half full of ink. Some companies have tackled this wasteful practice by designing environmentally friendly printers that use a different cartridge for each color, so that when one runs out, only that needs to be replaced.
One enterprising company has even designed an eco-friendly printer that doesn’t require electricity or ink. It works with human energy and uses coffee grounds. To use this printer, used coffee grounds are poured into an ink cartridge, then a person manipulates the cartridge to transfer “ink” from the coffee grounds to the paper.
Computer printers use a lot of paper, so environmentally friendly printers have been designed with double-sided printing capabilities. This allows you to reuse the paper. One design uses ultraviolet light to erase ink on heat sensitive paper. Another uses a thermal process with another type of plastic paper that can be reused many times. Both this printer and the plastic card are expensive, but improvements in the future could make this eco-friendly technology more affordable.
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