One more recycled tale
The first symptom was a line of pale splotches down the length of the body. In fact, the only symptom. Did I mention it was the body of the letter? There, that’s a relief. No strange medical report this time. In fact, the only sick part was my imagined pocket book shock, as we can’t afford to buy a new laser printer right now.
Avoiding anything brighter than our big Maglite, or anything sharper than my fingernail, I probed the printer drum on my operating table (which doubles as a kitchen range in hungrier times) and realized that the accumulated crud was possibly left over from a label sheet. Simple swabbing accomplished nothing, and a Google showed that others had passed this way; trying to clean a laser drum is usually filed under futile. Of course, replacement parts cost just a trace more than a whole new printer.
I’m a believer in the five Rs espoused on the printer box, and on the packaging material, and on the duplicate instruction sheets. In fact, this is a recycled paragraph:
REFUSE to purchase environmentally burdensome materials
REDUCE waste materials
REUSE waste material without processing
REFORM waste material
RECYCLE waste material as new resources
And it hit me. Some time ago, I rescued a similar drum from the garbage, and stored it with all the other valuable stuff stored in the basement for emergencies (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it). A perfect match. Out with the new and in with the old. I’m a recycler. The day has been saved. The little computer routine stored in the printer BIOS, (the one that tells how many times the toner cartridge has been used and how many sheets of paper have jammed), didn’t even notice.
So, if you need an inspirational story on why we should reuse and recycle, here it is. Keep it, and pass it on. After all, the small steps count.
