Does Used Paper Hurt Printers?

Adopting environmentally friendly policies can help your company save money and resources. When looking for ways to save money and adhere to the “Reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra of green consciousness, you may be tempted to print rough draughts of new documents on used and discarded paper. The decision to proceed is dependent on the type of printers you use and the potential negative impact of reusing paper.

Manual Duplexing
When printing two-sided output on a printer without an automatic duplexing unit, the process of feeding one-sided output back through your hardware for a second pass is referred to as printing on used paper. Some printer manufacturers advise against using specific models in this manner. Manual duplexing is less likely to cause problems if the output on both sides of the sheet comes from the same device. However, mixing printers can cause issues, especially if the heat from the second printing process exceeds the melting point of the consumables you’ve already printed on the sheet.

Laser Vs. Inkjet
Thermal inkjet printers, which use heat to put ink on paper, do not use the same type of heat source as laser printers. Because toner contains pigment as well as ground-up plastic, it requires a lot of heat to fuse it onto the output page. Unless printing a second pass on a sheet through an inkjet printer causes bleedthrough, making the image on one side visible from the other, duplexing and reprinting are rarely a problem for inkjet devices. Laser printers, like copiers and digital presses, can use fusing hardware that operates at high but varying temperatures. Before reusing laser output, ensure that the existing toner does not defuse.

Reusable Scrap Vs. Rejects
Paper with wear, tear, moisture and humidity damage, and other signs of abuse should not be used in your printer. Mechanically faulty sheets can cause paper jams, misfeeds, and other issues that will require you to waste time resolving. When you use electricity and ink or toner in an unsuccessful attempt to reprint on a sheet, you negate the environmental benefits of reuse and waste the consumables. Set aside damaged paper for use as a notepad.

Other Considerations
Some papers have a rating that specifies the first-choice side of the sheet to print on or defines the product as having only one imageable side. Papers designed for photographic inkjet printing frequently lack two-sided capabilities entirely. If you try to print on both sides of paper that doesn’t have two imageable surfaces, you may get inkjet output that doesn’t dry and can damage your hardware.