The Best Old Printers Disposal Solutions

People love their bikes. Most of you will agree that you’ve heard of a bike owner wax lyrical about his bike. There’s a certain bond that people form with their two wheeled vehicles of mayhem. That emotional bond is a result of all the myriad fun they’ve had with their bikes (think dates and parties) as well as the how useful their bikes have been (think last minute rush to critical meetings). Often enough, such is the bond people have with their bikes that they take care of them like their children. When the time comes to dispose of their bikes, these people just want to give them to someone who will give them the same love and care that they did.

Printers have the potential to achieve the same stature in our lives, if we allow them the chance. So, when that dreaded moment of old printers disposal comes, why shouldn’t our cherished workhorses receive the same kind of attention?

Why Old Printers Disposal Deserves Your Undivided Attention

Printers, like bikes, can be fun and productive at the same time. Countless individuals rely on their printers on a daily basis in their professional lives. On the personal front, printers are used for printing loving pictures and artsy projects to be handled by the whole family. Kids especially tend to reward a sense of ownership to their printers as they use them for everything from printing board games to school projects.

Whether you have that emotional bond with your printer or not, there are other more practical reasons why you should be considering various old printers disposal solutions. For one, environment is a concern because multiple resources are used to manufacture printers and then to deal with their waste components. Another practical reason is security wherein a printer’s inbuilt memory can be used to access documents that have been printed on it.

Practical or emotional, whichever way you look at it, you should consider the following old printers disposal solutions.

Donate Your Old Printers If they’re In Working Condition

The best of all old printers disposal solutions is donation. Printers can be a very useful tool of education and instruction. There are organisations in the country that can benefit from their use but since they are non–profit in nature, they often can’t spare enough money to buy a printer.

If you’re only upgrading your printer, then it means that your printer hasn’t broken down and is still in working condition. Printers that many of us consider obsolete or old school still have relevance to those organisations that don’t have the money to buy brand new printers. For instance, many organisations such as churches, educational institutions, and even some governmental organisations accept donations of electronic equipment.

Effectively, old and obsolete printers that are still in working condition should and, indeed, must be donated as opposed to thrown away. In fact, if an old printer is working then there isn’t any old printers disposal solution that is better than donating it and ensuring that it gets to hands that need it most.

Send Your Old Printers Through For Recycling

The most common method of getting rid of an old printer is to simply throw it into the garbage can. However, to the credit of humanity, recycling is one of the old printers disposal solutions that is really picking up these days in the world.

There’s only one reason why you can’t donate your old printer i.e. they’re not in working condition. If this is the situation you’re facing, then the next best thing you can do is recycle your old printer. There are many benefits of recycling your old printer.

As described earlier, the most important benefit is that you’ll be helping the environment. If your old printer goes to the landfill, then its components will be broken down naturally which can take years and years and take a toll on the environment too.

Most printers contain components that can be used again in a wide variety of situations. In fact, if you were the building and taking apart kind of person, then you could salvage components of your old printer yourself.

When you send your printer for recycling, a thorough salvage procedure is exactly what happens to it with the reclaimed parts being used in a wide array of other applications. Essentially, whichever old printers disposal recycling solution provider you pick, they take your printer apart, pick out all the juiciest parts and then either sell them on or reuse them with something.

There are numerous printers disposal recycling solution provider in Australia that you can use. Some of them are neighbourhood specific, some city specific, and some state specific.

The best of these is Tech Collect. Tech Collect is a recycling organisation that is funded by all the major Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). They have drop-off locations in virtually every corner of the country which means that it’ll also be easy for you to use their services.

Use Buyback, Trading In, And Second Hand Sale Options to Save Some Money

If your printer isn’t all that old and in a relatively decent condition, then there may even be a chance for you to get some monetary benefit out of it. There are basically three old printers disposal solutions through which you can get some kind of financial benefit.

The first of these is buybacks. These are usually offered by retailers or even OEMs directly. The buyback offer is simplicity itself. The buyer will pay you a certain sum of money to take the old printer off your hands.

The amount will always be small but never so small as to be negligible. Moreover, some of the offers may be time sensitive. Also, keep in mind that these offers usually carry exceptions where certain printer models are not accepted.

The other old printers disposal solution is trading them in for new printers and some cash. In this scenario, retailers are willing to reduce the cost of a new printer in lieu of the old printer. This can be a great old printers disposal solution especially if you’re looking to upgrade.

The final option is to simply sell your old printer on a second hand basis. You can do this on eBay or any number of other third party sites that bring together second hand buyers and sellers.

Make DIY 3D Printers with Your Old Printers

One of the rarer old printers disposal solutions is to repurpose them. It’s highly likely that you had no idea that your old printer could be turned into a 3D printer. But, it is possible that some printer models can be converted into a 3D printer.

As a matter of fact, if you have any experience in dealing with electronic items, then you most probably can do it yourself at home.

There are even many guides on converting old printers into 3D printers online that you could follow to make your own 3D printer at home.

While 3D printers are all the rage these days, they may not be your thing. If they aren’t, then you can perhaps convert your old printer into a bio printer. Bio printers are basically printers that print with organic material like live cells. There are guides for doing this online as well.

Converting is one of the most creative and efficient old printers disposal solutions you can find anywhere. You don’t even have to be limited to 3D printers and bio printers; you can convert your old printer into a custom plotter or even a time lapse camera rig.