Ink Cartridges Become Stepping Stones
Tuesday, 29 Jul 2008
AUSTIN — Image Microsystems is giving new life to old ink cartridges
and other plastics.
“Probably fifteen to twenty million pieces of ink cartridges did not
go to landfill because of this process,” company CEO Alex Abadi said.
It’s an eye-opening transformation taking place at the company’s
north Austin location.
The company re-manufactures and re-sells computer parts.
“Our impact that we’re trying to make sure that we understand is to
recover every bit of plastic that comes into this possibly where we
can remanufacture it,” company VP Jim Rollins said.
Students and graduates from the Texas School for the Deaf work at the
facility and they prepare the cartridges for their transformation.
Employee John Davis told us about the positive impact he and his
co-workers are making.
“I think this is a lot,” Davis said. “Recycling, I think it needs to
continue and it’s a part of our future that we always have to
consider, absolutely.”
The old ink containers are taken to an assembly line of machines,
where they ride a conveyor belt and drop into a grinder. Machines chew
up the plastic and spit out tiny pieces Every piece of the ink
cartridge is separated, even the foam inside the cartridge.
The grinded plastic then turns into a hot, mooshy substance. It’s
then placed in a mold for a few minutes before becoming a new stepping
stone.
“We have put some design in it,” Abadi said. “We have different type
of stones so it’s user-friendly.”
The stones go through a finishing process and are stored until
purchased from the the company’s website.
And it’s not just ink cartridges.
“Anything plastic, we can use,” Abadi said.
Other computer plastics are also mixed in to make the stepping
stones, which the company said can last for decades.
Next up? The company is hoping to manufacture manhole covers out of
recycled plastic. Also, they want to make water meter covers and sell
them. Abadi said they all pass required strength and sunlight exposure
tests.
“As we put time and effort and money into this we realize we can go
do something bigger,” Abadi said.
Image Microsystems said it hopes to install more plastic recycling
machines in other parts of the country.
Source:
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?contentId=7089477
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