| Ink cartridges have practically revolutionised printing | | | | Vietnam, where the cheap labour and lax |
| techniques in the last 20 years. From the days of | | | | environmental laws keep the cost down. |
| fiddling about swapping messy ink soaked ribbons and | | | | Surely, this is counter-productive. What we save for |
| wearing more of the product than you would ever | | | | the environment here, pollutes it elsewhere - we are |
| use, to what we have now. The little plastic box that | | | | only one planet after all. Of the 90 million kilograms of |
| pops out when empty and slots in, all fully filled and | | | | waste plastic collected from the UK, three quarters |
| ready to go makes office life so much simpler. | | | | of this was shipped to China for recycling. |
| Ink has come a long way from the days of quill and | | | | This plastic then has to go through a procedure to |
| squid ink. Now containing chemicals and additives, the | | | | remove contaminants before it can be recycled. This |
| days of smeared and faded documents are long | | | | process can take up to two litres of water per 500 |
| gone. | | | | grams of re-cycled materials, therefore plants cannot |
| However, with the discovery of global warming, | | | | be built in areas where water is limited. |
| every aspect of life and business has come under | | | | Contaminants from recycled plastic, such as inks, are |
| scrutiny and it is now the moral thing to do, to | | | | washed into the local waterways causing pollution |
| ensure the products you use are environmentally | | | | thus making the whole process pointless. |
| friendly. | | | | However, use natural ingredients to make ink, such |
| This is where the advent of soy ink, or vinegar ink, | | | | as soy ink and you have a much more |
| comes in. This is an alternative to petroleum based | | | | environmentally friendly product. Techniques are being |
| inks and aids the recycling of printed material as well | | | | developed in the Western world to develop a |
| as plastics. The cultivation of soy beans uses very | | | | recycling process that will eliminate the need for so |
| little energy in comparison to standard inks. Although | | | | much water and is hoped will be cost effective |
| not 100% bio-degradable, soy ink is much more | | | | enough to stop the need for exporting our rubbish. |
| environmentally friendly, which is essential given | | | | The good news is that soy ink is now being used in |
| where so much of it ends up. | | | | 95% of daily papers in the US. A quarter of |
| Paper and plastic have been the biggest contributors | | | | commercial printers in the United States now use soy |
| to recycling since the government has been | | | | ink. The only application this ink is not suitable for is |
| campaigning to encourage us all this way. Plastic | | | | the biro. |
| recycling is quite an expensive process. Due to this | | | | So now you know, when choosing your ink cartridge |
| fact, much of the recyclable plastics are shipped from | | | | make the environmentally sound choice. Use soy |
| the US and UK to Asian countries, such as China and | | | | based ink products and do your bit for the planet. |