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Soy-Based Toner Cartridges?

Posted by kdawson on from the it's-green-they-say-on-the-far-side-of-the-hill dept.

Jon.Laslow writes "I'm getting a lot of pressure from managers to switch to soy-based toner cartridges for our laser printers because they are 'greener.' The problem is, the only information I can find on them is from sales pitches; and the reviews all seem to be user testimonials. Do you have any experience soy-based printing products? Did you have any issues with them, and how was the print quality?"

2 of 389 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Be Green by tirefire · · Score: 0, Troll

    Mod parent down. Recycled paper is worse in every way than "virgin" paper. "Virgin" paper does not come from beautiful protected forests, it comes from tree farms. These tree farms have only young trees (which are more effective at fixing carbon from the air than older trees). Recycling paper also requires tremendous amounts of energy and the use of harmful chemicals to de-ink and bleach the paper again.

    Recycled paper is not "green". It results in us wasting resources in order to get shitty, rough, opaque recycled paper.

    Source: google.com

  2. Soy it's not green most of the time by fmaresca · · Score: 0, Troll

    because the vast majority of this crop is based upon a transgenic (GMO) variety, patented by Monsanto, which has made resistant to the action of an herbicide named Roundup (so this soy crop is also known as Roundup Ready).

    This herbicide cocktail is killer for biodiversity and a carcinogen (http://www.dontspraycalifornia.org/roundup-cats.html) and reproduction-problem generator (http://www.ehponline.org/realfiles/members/2005/7728/7728.html).

    The soy is also a killer not only for the chemicals used to grow it, but because is displacing other crops and activities, and taking down forests to get new cultivable areas; the intensive farming using "direct seeding" techniques, producing early soil exhaustion (http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/10/3727) and contamination, leading the lands used to farm soy unusable for other crops, because of the increasing levels of glyphosate (Roundup) applied.

    Soy derived products are not "green".