I’m not talking about those merchants who offer a “refill” service, I am talking about retailers who sell you a set of new cartridges, and who also assure you that they will take in your spent cartridges and recycle them (again, they are not offering to refill them).
Is this in fact similar to the practice of verterinary surgeons, who will take in a wounded pigeon brought to them by a child, will reassure the child that they will heal it, and once the child has gone, will promptly wring the bird’s neck ?
So are my spent cartridges in fact being recycled in an environmentally friendly manner, or are they simply going to landfill, in which case I might as well throw them in the trash-can myself ?
I believe they are sent to aftermarket companies that refills them, not so much for environmental reasons but to be able to get the OEM ink cartage to resell.
You really think they are going to waste valuable time on a bird with no owner ?
And btw, I am not guessing here, I am not a vet, but I have worked behind the scenes in several vet practices, and I can assure you that despite the image they might like to portray, the overriding consideration is maximising their turnover.
Stray pigeons don’t contribute anything to turnover …
In all seriousness, I do not doubt that a clinic my lie to a child about their intent to save a bird. I have taken an injured wild bird into a vet and they just told me they would be happy to take it and put it down. Actually they made sure they had it in their hands before they told me they would kill it. It is not often practical to try to heal an injured bird, they would probably do the same with a pet bird.
I do not doubt your personal experience, however I do not think all vets are concerned only about the bottom line. If they were they would not be vets, there are much better ways to make money.
If you have any doubts about the company you’re doing business with not telling you the truth, what prevents you from
taking your business elsewhere (if you don’t trust their word on recycling, why do you trust their word that the new cartridges are genuine HP and not cheap Chinese knock-offs?)
Sending the cartridges in for a refill programm yourself and earn money or points with it
When I buy a cartridge for my older-than-Dick-Clark HP4, the box turns into a prepaid package in which to ship the old cartridge back to Hewlett Packard. Does HP reuse the cartridge, or do they want old cartridges so that nobody can refill them?
I used to work for a company that refills inkjet and toner cartridges. It was at one time the biggest or second biggest company doing this. They remanufactured cartridges for Staples until Staples abruptly pulled the plug. It was never proven but assumed that the OEMs put pressure on Staples.
That company has since worked hard to diversify it’s customer base by selling it’s cartridges to small retailers. So to answer the OP the store is probably buying the remanufactered cartridges from someone and having their own label/packaging put on them.
Some cartridges are very easy to refill. It’s just a matter of adding more ink. Others were very tricky and are more of a rebuild with just the plastic shell being reused and all the internal components being replaced. These cartridges are beyond the capabilities of a Mom & Pop operation.
I don’t know if any OEMs recycle their cartridges but they do hate others doing it. So I assume their exchange program is mainly to keep empties off the market.
With your attitude, I’m not surprised you have moved through “several” vet practices.
The people I know in veterinary work (both vets & their staff) have a far more caring attitude toward animals. If not, they could be making more money in another field.
Wow, hostile much? Even if they might not spend valuable time and resources on a pigeon, that doesn’t mean all vets are only motivated by money, or turnover. Quite a few vets come across that way, yes, but my animal hospital caters to lower income owners, and they are wonderful, and do rescue work in-house. I have also dealt with other vets who gave me some services for free when I was fostering strays.
[thread drift] Vets have to practice tough love. I knew someone who volunteered at an animal shelter because she loved animals. They had her euthanizing dogs all day. She didn’t last long. [/thread drift]
I once found a car-hit pigeon on Christmas Eve while out riding my bike (it was Tucson and warm)… I put it inside my shirt and rode to my vet’s office which happened to be 24 hour, and they said they’d take care of it. I expected them to euthanize it (I couldn’t bring myself to do it myself) but the next day they called me on the phone to tell me that despite their efforts, the pigeon had not survived the night. I was of a divided mind. One side of me was grateful that they tried to help it… the other side was a little bit appalled that they didn’t immediately put it down, given that it had a severely broken wing…
But not every vet immediately wrings the neck of that stray bird the minute you leave the building… that’s my main point.