Back to School Time!

We here at IMSinkspot are currently running a back to school special on many of our in store products.
Contact sherryo@gmail.com to obtain more information, or check out our website at www.imsinkspot.com 

Myths about your Warranty

Did you know that, In the US at least, an OEM cannot require you to use all new products? As in, despite what your sales representative may have told you, using a re-manufactured Inkjet or Laser cartridge will not void your warranty? The Magnuss-Moss Warranty Act passed in the year 1975, States that the OEM cannot require you to use a certain brand of cartridge in order to guarantee your warranty.


Most warranties will only cover damage done by base mechanical defects, so that if you drop your printer or fail to install a cartridge correctly, the damages that you cause are not covered. However if your case is broken or damaged by a defective cartridge that is not the same brand as your printer, the company is under no obligation to fulfill a damaged claim. That being said, this only applies if you got your cartridge from a disreputable vendor, or someone who doesn't know what they are doing.

In truth there is nothing preventing you from using a cheaper re-manufactured cartridge other than fear mongering from corrupt sales representatives.Re-manufactured cartridges are also more likely to print longer, due to most of the cartridges no longer having a printing block installed on them. This allows the customer to print longer and on more pages than your normal cartridges give you.

If you take your recycled cartridges to a home office store instead of a large corporation there is a significantly better chance that the cartridges will end up actually being reused instead of being tossed into a landfill.On average the odds of your cartridge going to a licensed recycling plant, if taken to a large corporation, is around 20%. In most cases the cartridges are taken overseas to china where workers in underdeveloped cities carve out the ink and toner, leaving the plastic shell behind. This causes large amount of illnesses as well as mental and physical defects from birth, as the only way for these people to dispose of them is to burn the plastic casings, causing large amounts of CO2 to enter into the air and harm a majority of the people living there.

Furthermore larger companies such as Staples, impose a limit on the amount of cartridges you can take to them, depending on your rate of consumption you could get more bang for your buck by heading elsewhere, mainly to smaller businesses that actually specialize in cartridge recycling, Some even pay you to give them your cartridges. This way fewer cartridges end up in the smaller areas of china and you have more money in your pocket.

At least most of this holds true for the limited warranty, the full warranty covers a far large list of problems and covers what the limited warranty does as well, however both warranties do not cover damage by non- brand goods. So if you do get your cartridges from a less than reputable source, be sure to switch over to one who is. To make sure your cartridge supplier is legit, check around to other stores as well don't just stick with one out of an obligation, or because you have used only them for a long time. Who knows, you could even get a better deal out of it.

Sources:
http://h40059.www4.hp.com/warranty/support/tc.php
http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/privacy/limited_warranty.html
http://imsinkspot.ca/ims-wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Educating-voided-warranty-myth.pdf
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-34/page-67.html#h-33
http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/15C50.txt

Make sure your office is greener than ever, With these helpful Tips.

Tip 1:
Make sure to reduce your usage of electronics, such as turning off the lights when you leave a room or shutting off all computers and monitors for the night when through. This can save your company around 50% on their electric bill.Unplug items such as power-bars and laptop chargers when not in use, and be sure to monitor whether or not your employees are leaving their stuff plugged in.

Tip 2:
Make sure to replace your plastic or disposable silverware with actual Silverware, this is to reduce the amount of resources used in producing those products. This reduces your carbon footprint drastically and opens up a new avenue for profit resource.

Tip 3:
Consider funding a "Green team" to go through your workplace and figure out what to change and/or reduce the usage of. The team could also be used to advertise the various ways your company is changing how it runs, appealing to a larger and more planet conscious consumer base.

Tip 4:
Begin using email as the primary source of communications for the company. If you absolutely must use paper or paper products, try to use fair trade or 100% recycled paper products. When printing try to print on both sides whenever possible so as to cut down on your paper usage. Make sure that when printing a larger job, you use as little non-recycled paper as possible.

Tip 5:
Specifically try to seek out PCW (Post Consumer Waste) recycled paper, this paper type comes in many varieties and is entirely usable on inkjet or laser printers. It also helps to print in draft mode on your printer, it should lighten up the font on the paper but should still be readable.

Tip 6:
Be sure to shut down any and all peripheral devices, this will help you save on our electricity bill. Make sure that your windows are properly insulated, this will save you money on your heating bill. If your doors and windows are improperly insulated, consider hiring a workplace contractor to quote you price for fixing your doors and windows heat leaking abilities.

Tip 7:
Reduce electricity use by lower lights with dimmer switches if at all possible, and switch to energy saver bulbs. This will reduce Your electric bill even further. Other options also include clappers and or auto shut-off switches for the end of the workday.Cut down on the usage of battery powered devices, especially those with pug-in charging stations.

Tip 8:
Purchase plants for the office, this small amount of greenery will clean out the air, and recycle the pollution in the air. This will improve the air quality in your office, and lead to a healthier and happier workforce. If possible try to obtain a plant for every workstation in your office.

Rebuild, not landfilled ~ Ink cartridges and their effect on the environment

Each year millions of empty and used toner and inkjet cartridges from printers, fax machines, copiers, and others are destined for landfill.

Many companies use the drill and refill method, which works but is not always safe and healthy for the environment. Those drilled an refilled cartridges now will go the landfill. There is the process of rebuilding the cartridges, the process we use here at IMSinkspot.  When we remanufacture a cartridge we save 2.5 POUNDS of metals and plastics that could have been destined for landfill sites and can take up to 1000 years to decompose. You can reuse some parts of cartridges over and over again, saving more and more from being dumped in landfills or burned causing harmful gases in the air.

In the United States, approximately 400 million cartridges a year are either incinerated or dumped in landfill sites; that's around 750 cartridges a minute! Today, studies show that 20-40% of cartridges are recycled, so what's happening with the rest of the 60-80% around the globe? They are being incinerated, landfilled, and potentially are affecting the groundwater and the environment!

Did you know? That it takes a gallon of oil to produce one new laser OEM product, just think, in 12 months you could save 15 million liters of oil by recycling the old and empty cartridges.

Studies show that 70% of office waste is recyclable but only 7% of it, actually is!

 Landfill or refill, ink cartridges will end up not being recycled properly and could potentially be very harmful to the environment. REBUILD! buy remanufactured cartridges and not only save the environment but save your money as well!

At IMSinkspot we remanufacture approximately 2500-3000 cartridges monthly! You can well imagine how many pounds of waste we recycled and saved from harming our planet.




Thanks to Mr. Cartridge.com for some of the following statistics

Looking for a Job?

Be on the look-out! IMSinkspot is currently accepting applications for a variety of positions, including but not limited to:

Sales Representative

Office Assistant

Part-time Driver

and others.

so if you are looking for work, or are just curious about our business, drop us a line at 905-987-4781 or shoot us an Email at sherryo@imsinkspot.com. We look forward to your submissions.

-Signed,

The IMS Team.

Ribbon's Recycled, From Our Hearts

         

It deeply saddens us when a company dedicated to keeping our planet clean and free goes under, Our hearts go out to the Customers and Employees of Ribbons Recycled Inc, who closed their doors last month to a woe begotten crowd. Ribbons Recycled Inc, was founded in 1992 and continued to successfully keep more than 54,000 cartridges out of landfills every year that they were in business.

With over 11 stores across Canada and the USA, Ribbons Recycled Inc, has helped the planet more than most companies could hope to achieve.

However we here at IMSinkspot not only believe that we can help match what Ribbons Recycled Inc, has done for our planet, but surpass what they have done.In our 30+ years of experience we have helped many companies and individuals with their ink or toner needs, we offer similar services including a Pick-up program where we pay you to allow us to take your empty Cartridges. our prices are also competitive with theirs, being anywhere from 30% to 70% lower than most stores, Such as Staples or HP.

While we may not have the same amount of locales that Ribbons Recycled had, we believe we can guarantee service satisfaction regardless of your order. So visit us on our website to give us an evaluation of our services in comparison to Ribbons Recycled Inc, and if we match up, consider giving us a call and we will gladly do business with you.

We wish the Employees and Customers of Ribbons Recycled Inc, the very best and ask them to consider IMSinkspot for their Ink and Paper needs.

We are Located At 410 Toronto Street, Newcastle, Ontario or you can call us at 905-987-4781.

Our website is www.imsinkspot.com so visit us if you would prefer an online correspondence.

Local Environmental Change Can Impact The World Globally

Enrvironmental changes in local communities can impact the world.   

Many people seem to view environmental issues as problems that happen elsewhere. They do not recognize, perhaps even deny, that it is happening in their own backyard. 

The Not-In-My-Backyard or NIMYB phenomenon is taking place not only in Canadians' minds, but the whole of North America. 

People tend to rate their own communities as having better environmental quality. At the same time, agree that the biggest problem in the world today is the environment. 

Seeing environmental problems as a whole means that each and every community should work hard to create a better environmental future. 

This means changes should be made locally as well as globally. 

President and CEO of World Wildlife Fund-Canada once stated that, "We need to work hard to make sure people know local actions have global impact. And vice versa." 

Many believe they can make a difference, but lack the motivation to act. To reduce environmental impact typically means a change in people's lifestyle. This is the biggest obstacle for people when it comes to caring for their environment. 

Simple changes that can help the environment include: 

• greenhouse gas emissions by driving less
• getting rid of rising algae blooms across North America, that can cause illness in people and pets
• recycling paper products
• recycling print cartridges from homes or the office
• turning off faucets while toothbrushing 

The most important step is getting rid of the Not-In-My-Backyard mentality. Doing so can help people recognize the issues within their own communities. 

In the end, changes made in local communities can make a huge impact on the environment in a global scale.

Promoting proper disposal of E-waste

It is easy to preach recycling to our communities. Households typically separate food, electronic wastes, and paper in order to be good citizens. Some of these wastes are not toxic and can easily be recycled or reused. However, there are many electronic waste products that can be harmful to us and our environment.

Getting rid of unwanted TV's, cellphones, printers, wiring and other old electronics is a difficult process. Landfills, storage, and exporting to developing countries have all been used to get rid of the waste. However, not one has resolved our problem with hazardous electronic waste or e-waste.

A disturbing fact about e-waste is that some large companies ship their waste to developing countries like China, India, and Pakistan. Companies save money by exporting their waste to these countries instead of sending it to proper recycling centres in the U.S. or Canada. E-waste creates hazardous conditions for the developing country's local people and environment.

In 2003, an article written by Jim Puckett summarized the Basel Action Network (BAN) report Exporting Harm: The High Tech Trashing of Asia. This exposed North America's willingness to send e-waste to developing countries in order to save money.  E-waste recycling in these developing countries involve "backyard burning." The labourers would pick up scrap wiring or electronic parts then burn them in open space. According to the article, this can cause the materials to release fumes which are harmful to human health. 

Proper disposal is necessary in order to get rid of e-wastes safely. BAN, a global organization who promote sustainable waste management practices, calls for better policies and to put a stop on exporting wastes to developing countries. There are also waste management companies who invest state-of-the-art electronic recycling equipment to properly dispose of e-waste. Governments and large companies should look to these waste management companies to properly dispose of their e-waste.

Not only is e-waste the responsibility of governments and big companies, we can also do our part by reducing and reusing many of the products we purchase. For example, we can help by recycling ink or laser cartridges or printers. Simply bring or call IMSinkspot.com for more information. This can significantly reduce our country's waste as well as help developing countries. 

This article was brought to you by IMS Inc., one of Canada’s leading suppliers of the highest quality manufactured laser printer, inkjet and ribbon cartridges. Visit us at: http://www.imsinkspot.com

Ways for the Paper Industry to Reverse the Damage Being Done to Forests

Saving paper is not just about using the blue bin to recycle paper. The paper industry also needs to take responsibility. Logging by some businesses in the paper industry can cause deforestation, increase climate change, and negatively impact wildlife that depend on these forests. Paper mills can also cause toxins to be discharged in the water system. These water pollutants include toxic chlorine compounds and sulphur dioxide that may cause lake acidification. Responsible paper manufacturing needs to be done in order to stop the impact on our environment.

There are ways for the paper industry to reverse the damage that is being done to the forests. Investing in new plants, retrofitting existing plants, heat recovery and increased paper recycling; can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the manufacturing process of paper.

As individuals we can do our part by ensuring we continue to recycle paper or perhaps increase the habit of recycling. We can also purchase paper from manufacturers who are taking steps in a cleaner paper manufacturing process. You can do this by checking out certified papers such as FSC or PEFC options. FSC and PEFC are organizations that promote responsible forest management internationally.

Keep in mind that saving the environment starts from responsible consumers and manufacturers.

This article was brought to you by IMS Inc., one of Canada’s leading suppliers of the highest quality manufactured laser printer, inkjet and ribbon cartridges. Visit http://www.imsinkspot.com

Recycle More Than Ever with Ontario's Blue Bin Program

Ontarians have been using the Blue Bin program for many years. Since it's official launch in 2004, there are over 95 percent of Ontarians who take part in this program today. More than 900,000 tonnes of waste have been diverted from landfills as a result of this program. People now have consciously made an effort to recycle more than ever.

Even with the Blue bin program's outstanding achievements in reducing waste, some are still unsure on what really goes into the Blue bin. To help with this confusion, here's a list of items that go in the blue bin and ones that do not.

Items that CAN Be Recycled (Durham region)

• Glass Bottles and Jars
• Aluminum Cans and Clean Pie Trays
• Steel cans (metal beverage and food cans)
• Empty Aerosol Cans (with lids removed)
• Empty Paint Cans (with lids removed)
• Tubs and Lids (containers for spreads, yoghurt, cottage cheese)
• Newspapers, magazines, catalogues, telephone books and paperbacks
• Household papers (letters, envelopes, bulk mailings)
• Corrugated Cardboard
• Boxboard Cartons (cereal, tissue and detergent boxes)
• Gable Top Cartons (cream, milk, juice)
• Drink cartons (juice, soup and wine boxes)
• Plastic bottles with a twist-off top (up to 10 liters in size)

Items that CANNOT Be Recycled (Durham region)

• Glass (drinking glasses, dishes, crystal, window glass, light bulbs)
• Aluminum Foil
• Plastic Film (e.g. grocery or shopping bags)
• Styrofoam Packaging Polystyrene (nursery trays, clear muffin trays)
• Containers larger than 10 litres in size

This is a general list of items that can or cannot be put in the blue bin. Each municipality may have a slightly different list. However, all have a general idea of what goes in the Blue bin. Hopefully, this list will clarify confusion and will allow for proper waste disposal.

This article was brought to you by IMS Inc., one of Canada’s leading suppliers of the highest quality manufactured laser printer, inkjet and ribbon cartridges.Visit http://www.imsinkspot.com.

Tips on Reducing Carbon Footprint

What is carbon footprint? According to Clayton Sandell, from ABC news, it is "the measure of the amount of carbon dioxide that goes into the atmosphere as you go about your daily life."

Each one of us emits carbon dioxide to the atmosphere while we use normal gadgets at home and at work. The carbon is emitted by the power plants that produce the power to run or recharge electronic and mechanical equipment.

By following these simple tips, we can make our world a cleaner and safer place to live.

1. Unplug electronics when not in use.
2. Turn the lights off in rooms that are not in use
3. Do not leave the faucet running while brushing your teeth.
4. Print on both sides of the paper
5. Use refillable ink cartridges
6. Use recyclable paper
7. Reuse envelopes, folder or binders
8. Carpool to work
9. Maintain proper tire pressure to save on gas
10. Do not leave your car idle for too long
11. Walk, bike, or take public transportation.

The higher our carbon footprint, the more pollutants we release in the atmosphere. These are just a few of the things we can change in our habits in order to save our atmosphere.

This article was brought to you by IMS Inc., one of Canada’s leading suppliers of the highest quality manufactured laser printer, inkjet and ribbon cartridges. Visit http://www.imsinkspot.com.

How to Choose the Smart Printer that Saves Energy

Many businesses make an effort to reduce the use of paper and printing. However, we cannot achieve a 100% paperless office, at least not in the near future. This makes it important to choose the best printer or printers that not only use ink sparingly, but also saves energy.

Some appliances including printers have Energy star symbols attached to them. For printers to qualify for this symbol they would need to:

1.      Consume a set level of energy per week (Total Electricity Consumption
Approach – TEC), or;
2.      Must automatically enter low-power modes of a prescribed level (Operating
Mode Approach – OM).

These two criteria are reliant on the type of printer engine, product speed, and product size.

Under the OM Approach, a standard sized inkjet printer with a speed of 25 inches per minute should have:

1.      Go into sleep mode after 30 minutes of idle time.
2.      Consume a maximum of 1W of Standby power.
3.      Consume no more than 3W of power in Sleep mode.

Choosing an appropriate printer technology and capability can help reduce your business’ energy consumption. For example, if you do not require high quality images or printing speed then you may not need a laser printer or colour inkjet printer. A regular inkjet (black and white) printer would produce near-laser quality printer outs and would be an energy efficient alternative to laser printers. However, if your office requires printing large volume of paper then a faster printer (like laser) will probably be your best bet. They consume less energy per page.

Another important feature is energy consumption during standby mode. Consider how your office prints documents. Does the printer sit on idle for short or long periods? If your answer the latter, it is advisable to choose a model that reduces its energy consumption while in stand-by mode.

Remember to ask your vendor specifically for the printer’s energy consumption during printing, idling and energy-saver details before making a decision. This will help make your business energy smart. This article was brought to you by IMS Inc., one of Canada’s leading suppliers of the highest quality
manufactured laser printer, inkjet and ribbon cartridges. Visit http://www.imsinkspot.com.

Why You Should Avoid an Inkjet Printer from Being Idle for Too Long

Keeping an inkjet printer idle for months on end is not the best way to maintain the printer or to save on ink. To keep the printer and ink cartridges properly functioning, it needs regular cleaning and maintenance.

How to maintain your inkjet printer:

Newer printers have self cleaning system that is built into the inkjet printer. However, older style printers do not. Each manufacturer has their own specific cleaning instructions that are printed in the manual. It gives tips on how to clean the printer head, rollers and ink cartridges inside the printer.  If you no longer have the original manual, manufacturers will normally have it in their website.

The simplest thing to do is use your printer regularly. This will keep the printer and its ink cartridge running smoothly. Leaving the printer unused for long periods of time, may cause internal problems. Print at least once every week to ensure that the printer and ink cartridge are working properly. Even if it’s a test page, at least it is being used.

Printer heads clogging up is one of the biggest problems with ink jet printers. To ensure proper printer function, always test your printer by printing a test page. This must be done on a regular basis in order to check if the printer or ink cartridges are working fine. To clean the ink cartridge, remove it from the printer and clean them off using a Q-tip dipped in a bit of water. Wipe the inside of your inkjet printer at least once a week using a non lint cloth. This helps the printer’s print quality.

Following these few tips will help maintain your ink cartridge and printer.

Why use a refillable ink cartridge?

Refilling ink cartridges have been a popular way to reduce, reuse, and recycle for many people. Throwing away ink cartridges is like throwing batteries away. We all know that this is not good for the environment.

One big reason why people prefer refillable cartridges is that it is more cost effective than buying new ones. Refilling a cartridge could save you up to 60% less than a brand name ink cartridge. Most brand name companies would argue that refilled cartridges do not have the same quality. They claim that photos printed using refilled cartridge can fade quicker than their brand name counter parts. However, a study conducted by Quality Logic proved that the quality of refilled cartridges print outs are comparable to those of new cartridges.

Another reason to choose refillable ink cartridges is that brand names like HP, Canon, and Brother come out with newer printer models almost every year. Since older models are more likely discontinued, the same goes for its ink cartridge. There may be times that you will not find the same model ink cartridge for your old printer.

Not only are refillable ink cartridges more cost-effective, they are also safer for our environment. With the quality of ink improving in the recent years, the use of refillable ink cartridges are in demand

Be informed before purchasing Ink and toner cartridges

Be Informed

To the uninformed consumer purchasing toner supplies necessary to carry on with your day to day operations, understand that there’s Chinese made product in our midst that is being sold as a compatible product to compete with the OEM products in the marketplace.

What you might not know is that this product is being manufactured using illegally produced plastic cartridges and sold in our market place as a compatible.  At one time China OEM empty plastic cartridges to rebuild as compatible product, then only exploiting their own work force to build this product for what we would consider less then acceptable wages.

During the course of this era, a lot of the waste product was being dumped in areas inhabited by their general population who didn’t know any better than to have this type of thing thrust upon them.  After a considerable amount of time, it was slowly determined that all this type of waste product was contaminating their land and water table.  Populated areas were starting to have to bring in drinking water as their own became unacceptable for human consumption.  The Chinese Government stepped in and put import restrictions quotas on empty cartridges to prevent further environmental damages.

To get around the quotas, most Chinese manufactures starting making their own plastic molds to ensure the supply and demand scenarios.

Thus today the vast amount of Chinese compatible product is illegal by virtue of this fact that they never asked permission from the OEM manufacturers such as HP and Lexmark to do so.  Lexmark has been doing their due diligence to prevent this type of piracy from taking place and eventually HP will do the same.

So unless you’re paying pennies for this product, you might be short sighted in thinking you’re getting a deal.  The only companies really benefiting from this are the importers of such products, where without any investment other than some inventory, are taking advantage of a situation for nothing other than greed.

You don’t have to look very hard to see what this type of greed has led to, just go to any major retailer and try to buy an article of clothing that’s not made in some distant land, mission impossible, and the collapse of the North American textile industry.

Next time you’re buying a toner product, just check the bottom of the box to see where it’s made, even some of the large hardware manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon to grab even more margin in their supply of consumables to the end user (general public).

To the legitimate remanufacturers of North America, this is more than competition, because as caretakers of the environment we become saddled with this illegal product as empties which in turn, we have to dispose of in an environmentally responsible fashion, not to mention the money spent to do our fair share in keeping this product out of our land fill sites and possible causing irreparable damage to our piece of this planet.  Let your Conscience be your guide, for you and generations to come. 

How to Extend the Life of Your Printer Ink Cartridge

Extending the life of your printer ink cartridge is quite easy. Shaking the cartridge isn’t the only way to get more ink out of the cartridge, which, by the way, can cause leakage. By following a few simple steps, you can help prolong the life of the printer ink cartridge and allow you to be less wasteful, and help the environment in the long run.

   1. Preview your documents. Previewing a document before printing is the best way to avoid printing documents with errors. Typographical errors or misaligned images on the page can resort to printing loads of paper to get the correct information printed out. Using a spellchecker, grammar checker, and the Preview option in your computer can help save ink and paper.

   2. Print Draft-quality prints. If it is necessary to print out a document to double-check image alignment or general errors, use draft-quality printing. This can be set in your printer software. This way the amount of ink used will be minimal.

  

3. Print regularly. Use your printer regularly. Print draft-quality prints if necessary as long as it is being used. The ink cartridge can dry up when the printer is left unused for a long period of time. Dried printer ink can clog your printer head which can produce low quality printouts or worse, damage your printer head.

4. Unplug your printer when not in use. Power the printer down properly and unplug it from the wall. Heat from the electricity may cause the ink to clog the printer head. Clogged print heads can print low quality printouts and can overall damage the printer.

Following these few easy steps will lengthen the life of your ink cartridge. This article was brought to you by IMSinkspot.com.

Why Should You Use Remanufactured Print Cartridges

Over 330 million ink and toner cartridges are
discarded into North American landfills.

According to Statistics Canada, over 350 million ink and toner cartridges are discarded into North American landfills. That number is rising by 12% annually. By recycling your laser and ink jet printer cartridges, you will help divert the amount of plastic that end up into landfills. These days, most cartridges can be recycled up to six times and are guaranteed by most manufacturers to work as if they were brand new.

To recycle your used print cartridge, read the instructions in the box of your new laser or ink jet cartridge to find out how to recycle it. Some manufacturers will provide instructions, packaging materials and free postage if you wish to recycle your old cartridge. These cartridges are reconditioned, refilled, and used again, using all new toner and components to our ISO 9001/2008 and ISO 14001 standards.

By taking the steps necessary to reduce the need for new materials, you become more proactive in environmental conservation. You can contact IMSinkspot to learn more about your options. IMSinkspot is Canada’s premiere eco-friendly print supplies manufacturer. IMSinkspot does their part to help reduce landfill waste and affect positive environmental change. Contact IMSinkspot today, and they can provide you more information about remanufacturing your old laser printer cartridge.

How To Protect Your Printer Cartridges from Electrostatic Discharge in the Winter Months

Take special care when handling print
cartridges during the winter months.

In the winter months, you must take special care when handling and installing printer cartridges because of the dry winter air. Electrostatic discharge or ESD is harmful to many electronic components, including standard office equipment like computers and printers. ESD happens when a person has accumulated a potential electrical difference - through friction or even dry winter air - and completes a circuit, usually by touching a conductive surface such as metal. This produces an electrical discharge that may be too much for an integrated circuit to handle and thus burns and ruins it, as the flow of electrical current follows the path of least resistance.

Printer cartridges are vulnerable to ESD and thus measures have been created to prevent blowing out cartridges when someone needs to change them. Some measures include adding protection circuitry into the components, anti-static packaging, shielding covers over conductive surfaces, and anti-static devices such as grounding wires or grounding rugs. An external solution exists, so that companies do not have to redesign their products or buy expensive anti-static devices that cease to work when removed.

For printer cartridges, ground rings and spark gaps can be implemented to the exterior of the product. Ground rings work by forcing a new path of least resistance, so ESDs pass by the vulnerable circuits unscathed and dissipate into the printer safely. Spark gaps work by having contact points on the printer cartridge that all connect to several empty spaces, so ESDs readily follow these points to the gaps, where the potential electrical difference is lost when the ESD has to jump these gaps. Ground rings and spark gaps even reduce the chance of ESD during the manufacturing process.

This article about how to protect your printer cartridges from electrostatic discharge was brought to you by IMSinkspot.com