Gwinnett Relay For Life Partners With Hopeinks.org A Socially Responsible Venture

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(From Gwinnett Relay For Life’s “Talk Tuesday” publication.)

With Print Green USA it truly is a win‐win situation. To help you and your team, we’re introducing a
new program ‐ one that will help you to raise funds without the need to ask for a donation, and to do
so while saving money for the people you’re talking to! We’ve partnered with Print Green USA, based
right here in Gwinnett and together we have created a program where cartridges made of Environmentally

conscious, OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) gradetoner (top quality & 100% Guaranteed) can be

purchased at prices well below OEM prices (savings to you) ‐ and best of all, Ten percent of the
order total will be donated to the Gwinnett Relay For Life ‐ and your team gets the credit for the donation!

It’s easy to get started. Your teams have already been loaded. Simply visit http://www.hopeinks.org, create
your account, select your team and place your order. 10% of the order total will be credited to your
team’s fundraising efforts.

But don’t just place your order ‐ share this information with your family and friends. Why? Everyone
with a computer uses a printer ‐ whether at home or at work. Their orders will create credit for your
Relay Team when they select your team. And every time they re‐order, your team will get the
fundraising credit ‐ which means that your team can be raising funds 365 days a year!

We hope this program will be a great adjunct to your existing fundraising efforts, and make it easier to
surpass your team’s goal for this year ‐ and give you a head start on next year!
Thank you for your commitment to the Gwinnett Relay For Life ‐ you are the lifeblood of our fight
against cancer!

Questions on the Program? Click here http://hopeinks.org/howItWorks.htm
Ready to Log in and Order? Click here https://hopeinks.org:1230/Security/SignIn.aspx

Share this with your family, friends, employers and coworkers ‐ See the “Share” Button at:
www.hopeinks.org

Green In Gwinnett Area is proud to support the American Cancer Society and their Gwinnett Relay For Life Program.  If you have a socially responsible community program and you would like your company considered for feature, please email: giga@greeningwinnett.org

Hope Inks:

The Hope Inks Program is proud to be hosting this Official Fundraiser with the American Cancer Society’s Gwinnett Relay For Life.  Gwinnett has always shown great support for this event and we are proud to be a part of such a worthy cause as the Gwinnett Relay For Life.  The many schools, companies, and residents of Lawrenceville, Duluth, Suwanee, Norcross, Lilburn, Snellville, Decatur, and Grayson will make this 2010 Gwinnett Relay for Life even better and bring many more birthdays to our futures.

Do Those Laser Toners and Ink Cartridges Get Recycled? Not In Most Cases!

The first chapter into exploring my industry and the massive impact that it has on our environment.
Gwinnett! The following is a true account of this unethical field.
Green In Gwinnett Area GIGA encourages turning in your used laser toners and/or ink cartridges to be recycled. The are many programs available.

Print Green USA, Inc. located in Suwanee, GA has a program available to consumers.

Please email: recycle@printgreenga.com for details on how to recycle your laser toners or ink cartridges.

Please comment and I will explore your questions or your industry as well.

Lexmark and THE PREBATE:

Each quarter, Lexmark releases yet another financial statement reinforcing its “supplies-driven” profitability. It is making more dollars from the sale of cartridges than the sale of printers.

And how environmentally friendly are its programs?

Lexmark’s Prebate program (now known as its environmentally friendly “return” program) gives a discount at the time of sale if the customer agrees to return the cartridge to Lexmark, or at least agrees to not give it to a remanufacturer. So, a customer has already been rewarded for buying this “environmentally friendly” product, and any incentive to recycle it is long forgotten. When the cartridge is spent, the customer may find it inconvenient to return it to Lexmark. Still wanting to do the right thing, the customer attempts to sell or give it to a remanufacturer. The cartridge’s Prebate restrictions forbid its being remanufactured, so the preferable reuse option is foreclosed. Lexmark has testified in its lawsuit with Static Control Components that it gets back 50 percent of its Prebate cartridges, and that those cartridges are then remanufactured or recycled by Lexmark.

This begs the question: Are Lexmark’s recycling partners involved in legitimate recycling?

And what about the other 50 percent of the cartridges sold by Lexmark under the Prebate program?

They are condemned to landfills, as the Prebate restrictions mandate that they cannot be remanufactured by a third party. If a remanufacturer risks legal action by remanufacturing the Prebate cartridge, it runs into the chip problem. The chip acts as the enforcement device for the Prebate restrictions. It will determine if the cartridge has been remanufactured and will shut down the printer. Aftermarket chip solutions have been developed by several aftermarket vendors, one of whom has been sued by Lexmark for their ingenuity. Think Green Gwinnett! Start small, recycle, turn off the lights, recycle your laser toners…

To add even more insurance that the cartridge will not be remanufactured, Lexmark frequently changes the firmware in the printers through “upgrades” and during routine service maintenance. The firmware acts like a virus and renders many viable aftermarket solutions worthless.

Therefore, a Lexmark customer wanting to remanufacture the (return program) cartridge is frustrated at every turn. This is a classic bate and switch scheme.

So I beg all of you in Suwanee, Lawrenceville, Duluth, Norcross, Buford, Lilburn, Snellville, or any other area of Gwinnett County, please do the right thing and recycle your used laser toners and ink cartridges.

Stay tuned for another chapter in this tail…

Green In Gwinnett Area GIGA (Keeping Gwinnett Green and Sustainable)

and sponsor Print Green USA, Inc.

PrintGreenGA.COM