Refill ink jet cartridges at the bookstore

Members of the Wake Forest community can now refill empty ink jet printer cartridges at the University Bookstore on Hearn Plaza for a small fee through the university’s Ink-O-Dem (pronounced INK-OH-DEEM) program. Cartridges can be re-inked using this system several times before they must be retired. The program began at the beginning of the fall 2009 semester and has been very well received especially by freshman and faculty and staff members according to bookstore manager Erin Evans. “Most of the students who do use the program are repeat customers and really, $9.99 for a black ink cartridge is a great deal,” she said.

Almost 95 percent of ink cartridges on the market – including those from big names like HP, Lexmark, and Dell – can be refilled using the program. After a brief (free) electrical test to see if the cartridge is in good enough shape for reuse, the machine will refill black cartridges for $9.99 and color cartridges for $14.99, roughly half the cost of new cartridges.

After the cartridge is refilled, the print head is cleaned and a print test is performed. The whole procedure takes from 5 to 15 minutes depending on whether the cartridge is black or color. If you don’t have time to wait, simply drop off the cartridge and pick it up later.

And remember, if and when your cartridges can no longer be refilled, make sure to drop them in the TechnoTrash bin, located in the bookstore so that they can be recycled properly.

Caitlin Brooks, Outreach and Communications Intern