Last Saturday (5th June) was World Environment Day and Enrique Stura, responded to our article on Ninestar’s water treatment plant. Here is what Enrique had to say…
“The small recycler of inkjet cartridges operates in hideouts renting small apartments and using the kitchen and the bathroom as the basic facilities. The kitchen for production and the WC for ink discharge passing the matter of environment care to the Sanitary and City Water Supply Company the job of clearing the used ink from the discharges.
“This type of attitude is quite difficult to eradicate and no matter the technical training imparted and the talks about dispensing the used ink in a safe and legal manner the discharges continue and inspections of the rented apartments seldom occurs as it is the responsibility of the owner first and the municipal inspector verifying all reports of violation.
“The operations of small rechargers, pushed to compete for prices is not of great economic importance however the contamination and cost of clean water is of great concern in the deep South of the Americas.”
Enrique Stura
Buenos Aires
In case you didn’t know:
Often called water-based (or Aqueous) inks that are not always water, and are not always environmentally friendly, nor are ink cleaning agents. Pigmented inks may contain heavy metals (such as lead, cadmium, or chromium) or are mixed with solvents containing hazardous materials, then proper hazardous waste disposal of that ink becomes vital. If inks are disposed of through open drains or into landfill as liquid waste these toxic metals can accumulate in the soil or leach into the groundwater system, impacting on human, animal and aquatic ecosystem health.
Consider:
- Using a chemical recycler who may recycle or safely disposal of ink liquid waste.
- For low to medium volumes of liquid ink waste, use a cartridge waste filtration system to clean the water before it enters the wastewater system.
- For high volumes of liquid ink waste, you may have to consider a water treatment plant.
One thing is for sure, check your local regulations.
