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EPSON® Ultrachrome™ K3 printers & Vermont PhotoInkjet eco-friendly ink
Vermont
PhotoInkjet introduces an eco-friendly ink alternative for EPSON®
Ultrachrome™ K3 printers.New ConeColor 100% color pigment formula
replicates color space while alleviating the strain on the environment
caused by one-time-use cartridges.
EAST
TOPSHAM, Vermont. feb 2008: Vermont PhotoInkjet announced today the
immediate availability of ConeColor inks for EPSON Ultrachrome K3
printers. These 100% pigment, high-performance inks are packaged in
economical 4, 16 and 32 ounce bottles and sold with a set of
eco-friendly, refillable, lifetime cartridges. This solution is simple
to use and will save the average user 65% or more of their current ink
costs. The savings to the environment is even greater. ConeColor ink
shares the same pigment technology as Piezography® K7 inks which makes
them extremely fade resistant and non-damaging to EPSON print heads.
Because Vermont PhotoInkjet carefully matched the color-space of the
OEM inks, users can slip ConeColor inks right into their current EPSON
color workflow.Vermont PhotoInkjet’s President Jon Cone points
to his son’s efforts to have a low-impact on the environment as his
overwhelming decision to bring ConeColor to market in a “green” manner.
“ Spencer asked what I was doing to prevent my customers from throwing
out their cartridges into landfills. He also brought my attention to
the health effects of factory workers who make semiconductor chips
which is a very toxic manufacturing process.” Cone added “I wanted to
create a perfect eco-friendly solution for my customers rather than be
part of the problem.”Instead of selling cartridges for one-time
use, ConeColor is marketing its new inks for use in a set of
high-impact ABS refillable cartridges for the EPSON 4800, 7800 and 9800
printers and a set of easily refillable cartridges for the EPSON 2400
desktop printer. These carts are all easily filled from a bottle and
their semiconductor chips are simply reset with an included chip
re-setter. Alternatively, consumers can purchase a bulk ink delivery
CIS system for their EPSON 2400 printer that is conveniently
replenished from an attached bottles system.According to the
latest research by InfoTrends, as much as 86% of all new printer
cartridges are thrown away instead of recycled. It is estimated that
more than 450 million ink carts were thrown into landfill last year in
the USA. In an estimated US$32 billion dollar market, this is a
tremendous amount of waste to end up in landfill. Most if not all of
these cartridges will take up to 1000 years to biodegrade, and their
impact on the ecosystem is still unknown. An even worse impact on the
environment is that most inkjet cartridges now contain a semi-conductor
chip. Semiconductor chip manufacturing requires exposing workers to
highly corrosive hydrochloric acid; metals such as arsenic, cadmium,
and lead; volatile solvents such as methyl chloroform. Tolulene,
benzene, acetone, and trichloroethylene; and toxic gases such as
arsine. Many of these chemicals are known or probable human
carcinogens. “When you read how much waste water is produced in order
to create these tiny little chips, and think of our own fresh water
shortages that we face here in Vermont as well as other parts of the
US, it gives you pause to think,” said Cone.While Vermont
PhotoInkjet lauds the continuing efforts of semiconductor factories to
find ways to reduce exposure to the environment and their workers from
toxins, a much faster and greener impact is to lower the dependency on
chips. The semiconductor chips on ConeColor refillable inkjet
cartridges can be re-used time and time again. While OEM cartridges are
not designed for reuse, Vermont PhotoInkjet’s proposal for
environmentally conscious consumers is to purchase high-quality
ConeColor inks in bulk and use refillable cartridges. “Being green is a
universal concept,” said Mr. Cone. “Every individual can have the
choice of leaving a small footprint on this Earth if they are given the
correct choice of products,” Cone added.EPSON has made it even
more difficult in the USA for its customers to become ecologically
active. On Dec 19, 2007, EPSON citing patent infringement succeeded in
getting a law enacted in which the US Customs department is blocking
the entry of any non-EPSON desktop cartridges into the USA. Because
EPSON brand cartridges are not designed for reuse, it appeared desktop
printer consumers might be left without a choice other than disposal in
landfill or incineration of used cartridges. However, just prior to the
New Year, the US Patent Office in a reversal of fortune for USA
consumers has questioned the validity of these patents in an office
action citing that after re-examination they are based on prior art and
are neither innovative nor creative.Colleen Duffley of Colleen
Duffley Photography in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida is an early adopter of
the ConeColor inks system. “I live and shoot in one of the world’s most
beautiful and pristine beaches in Florida,” said Colleen Duffley. “I
use a complete digital workflow that includes shooting, editing, and
printing and I can’t imagine throwing away a media card because I used
it in my camera. So why did I have to throw away all those ink carts
because I used up the ink?” Colleen questioned. “I began using
ConeColor inks and refillable cartridges and the color is everything I
expected and I no longer have to feel guilty about throwing away ink
carts,” added Ms. Duffley. “I’m not throwing them away anymore!”Because
a ConeColor customer will need only one refillable cartridge set for
the life of their printer, they will dramatically reduce the amount of
plastic cartridges that would otherwise find their way into local
landfills. Also, they are doing their part to protect semi-conductor
workers who have one of the highest percentages worldwide of work
related health issues and children born with birth defects.Consumers
in the USA have been led to believe that using third-party inks voids
their warranties. To the contrary, the USA has strong consumable laws
such as the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act that disallow a manufacturer
from forcing a consumer to purchase and use only the manufacturer’s
brand ink in order to warranty the consumer’s printer. Vermont
PhotoInkjet has insurance for their manufacturing that covers its
customer’s equipment should repairs be necessary and the inks or refill
cartridges are shown to be the source of the damage. Vermont
PhotoInkjet is one of the few ink companies that can provide this type
of security to its customers. “ We’ve had such a great record of
satisfaction with Piezography inks that we were able to get this kind
of insurance coverage,” explained Jon Cone.ConeColor inks are
available in 4oz, 16oz, and 32oz bottles including both a matte and a
photo black option. They are priced at $28.00 for 4 ounces, $92.00 for
16 ounces, and $184.00 for 32 ounces which represents 18¢ per ml in
comparison to EPSON’s 50¢ per ml. The refillable cartridge system for
the EPSON 4800, 7800 and 9800 printers is $398.00. The price of
ConeColor ink is only $40.50 for same equivalent amount of EPSON brand
ink in a standard 220ml cart. For the EPSON 2400 printer, ConeColor
represents and even greater savings of as low as 18¢ cents compared to
EPSON’s 90¢ per ml for 2400 cartridges. When said another way, EPSON
charges approximately $3,500.00 per gallon of ink when used in an EPSON
2400. A gallon of ConeColor ink is less than $700.00. Consumers can
purchase a CIS system for their EPSON 2400 printer at $130 that allows
use of both the matte and photo black inks, or pre-filled cartridges at
only $10.84 each that they can refill and reset.ConeColor brand
ink and refill carts are available now from http://www.inkjetmall.com
and are being made available by Vermont PhotoInkjet to resellers
throughout the world with a contact link on the
http://www.conecolor.com websiteVermont PhotoInkjet, LLC is a
small company located in the rural village of East Topsham, Vermont and
is renowned worldwide for its Piezography brand of monochromatic inks
and software. It operates on the world-wide-web as InkjetMall.com. Jon
Cone is also President of Cone Editions Press (est. 1980) which is
recognized as being the world’s first digital printmaker. Cone Editions
Press developed and sold one of the earliest archival inks for use in
IRIS printers in the mid 1990s. Vermont PhotoInkjet and Cone Editions
Press have been recycling through the Vermont Waste Management
Division. All of Vermont PhotoInkjet, LLC ink operations uses recycled
plastic. The company is able to clean and prepare all of its finished
ink containers as well as its chemical containers for recycling and
reuse.
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