Case Studies

These case studies describe how various businesses use refill toner.

In each case cost saving is the main benefit. Affordable toner lets them take on more printing themselves. They have more control of their printing, and can print on demand. The environmental benefit is an added bonus that is appreciated throughout the business.

Case A: Antiquarian book facsimiles printed using refilled toner cartridges.

The Bindery in Rochester prints and binds small quantities of books. They often take apart rare 17th or 18th century books and scan them page by page. They reprint a facsimile edition. A particularly well known facsimile is of the South Polar Times. This was compiled by the crew of the Discovery under Captain Scott, on their expeditions to the Antarctic. They reckon that they save about two thirds of the cost of Xerox cartridges by refilling them. They have bought 25 fewer cartridges over the past two years. They are used to topping up the toner in their copiers, so the refilling is straightforward. The savings mean that they are not priced out of the market. They also appreciate that one less cartridge is made, and disposed of, for each of their refills.

Read the full case study here.

Case B: CDs with colourful but always green packaging!

Digital Data Ltd of Sevenoaks in Kent rapidly turns around short production runs of CDs and DVDs. The discs that they produce are often accompanied in the jewel cases by printed insert sheets or booklets. For printing booklets they installed an A3 colour printer. The printer works well, but chews through lots of toner. Much of their work is A3 size. The graphics print at around 60% coverage, and so the cartridges usually only last around 1,500 sheets. They have been refilling since June 2005. They have not noticed a deterioration in print quality. They have used 23 refills in little over a year. They are still refilling the original set of Xerox cartridges. They have saved 58% on the cost of cartridges. A significant amount of plastic and other materials have not been used, and will not end up in the rubbish. Their inserts really are pretty green!

Read the full case study here.

Case C: Health and safety trainers extend machine life with refill toner.

Eldon Training Services offer Health and Safety training nationwide. They prepare and print all their material centrally on demand. They use a variety of printers and copiers. With the cost of machines being so low and the cost of the consumables so high, they are often tempted to replace a machine rapidly with a new one when the first major component needs replacing. TonerTopUp refills help swing the balance. They save at least 40% overall. The lower consumable cost mean that it is economical to hang onto machines much longer. They do not have to chuck away working print heads, cogs wheels and other parts that still work alright. They do not have to throw away complete working machines because the consumables are too expensive.

Read the full case study here.

Case D: Orinoco Crafts save thousands by refilling their Hewlett-Packard printer cartridges.

Orinoco Crafts design and print a range of unique items for the craft makers market. Many of their paper items are printed on their Hewlettt-Packard printer. The cost of toner is a major part of production. They have recently had their products included in a pack featured on QVC Television. This has led to two large orders. They printed the first order using a total of 25 original HP cartridges. Looking for a more economical way of handling the printing, they explored the possibility of refilling their cartridges with toner powder from TonerTopUp. They were impressed by the support that they received. They had kept the empty cartridges from the first run. They only had to buy two more black ones for the next order. This would have used 41 cartridges. The percentage saving was 69%. For the next run they had to buy some more cartridges. This reduced the saving to 62%. As well as saving thousands they have also saved 38 cartridges from the landfill site.

Read the full case study here.

Case E: Refilling is a settled routine at Jaguar Business Forms

Jaguar Business Forms are general purpose printers, based in Crawley in Sussex. Originally continuous forms printers, they now provide a range of extra services. These range from labels and envelopes, through to digital printing and a complete billing service for utilities from design to the mailing of the printed bills. Their main equipment for printing is a mix of conventional litho presses and digital colour printers. Their big, professional Xerox colour printer is on a supplies inclusive service contract. For their ordinary office printers they moved over to using TonerTopUp refill toner on cost grounds and have never looked back. They find the process easy. They tend to keep just one new cartridge in reserve for each printer. They find that the biggest problem is waiting for the hole melting tool to heat up, and finding the right picture of where to make the hole. Overall they save a third on their previous cartridge costs. Their problem disposing of the old cartridges is greatly reduced.

Read the full case study here.

Case F: Refilled toner cartridges help sell stockbroker belt homes.

Catling & Co are estate agents who specialise in selling high value homes in the stockbroker belt of Surrey. It is a market where presentation quality is of vital importance to their clients. They choose to print their colour sales brochures in house on their A3 format and smaller A4 printer. There are good and economical printing facilities available to them. The decision to print in-house is based on being able to get excellent quality and substantial savings. They use a lot of toner. Their supplies must be of high quality and good value for in-house printing to make sense. They find both types of cartridge easy to refill. There was a little learning curve. This was mainly in ensuring that the built in filler plug is not damaged in removing it from the cartridge. They soon got the knack of it. They save about 75% of the original cartridge cost. Overall they save a lot of money. It is well worth them doing their own printing.

Read the full case study here.