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A print spooler is a type of software that manages printing jobs that an electronic printer produces. Print spoolers are often used in industrial and commercial applications in order to place printing jobs in a specific priority level, depending on the time stamp of each job. They are usually used in situations that involve mass printing or printing by many different users. Print spoolers also alert users when their material has been printed, assign jobs to differentprinters so that multiple materials may be printed simultaneously, automatically select stationary, etc.

How Print Spoolers Work
Print spoolers work by placing printing jobs in a separate area of a hard drive so that they may be processed separately from the application they came from. This removes the burden of processing from the original application and allows it to continue processing other tasks without waiting on the printing job to be completed. For example, if a user prints a document from MS Word, thecomputer’s print spooler automatically separates the printing job from other MS Word tasks and processes it at its own rate. Without a print spooler, the user would not be able to use MS Word or other system resources until the printing job is complete. While this may not interrupt use for an individual user who is only processing one printing job, it can cause entire offices to be temporarily disabled during larger tasks, such as payroll printing.

Applications
Print spoolers are found on personal computers and remove the burden of printing from word processors, photo editors, and other programs. They are also used on commercial computer systems in order to allow all computers in an office to keep processing other tasks while large printing jobs are carried out on a separate hard drive or server. Print spoolers are used in office computers to assign individuals printing jobs to different printers on the same network. This allows the printing job to be completed in much less time and lowers the stress on the resources of each individual computer.

Advantages
Print spoolers allow users to continue what they were doing while a printing job is being processed. Additionally, print spoolers may include features that notify the user about completed tasks or distributing the workload among several devices. Print spoolers are widely available and free versions can usually be found on the Internet or included with printing hardware.

The idea of recycling printer cartridges and toner is becoming more and more popular as awareness about it grows.  As more people realize the environmental impact of their actions, many are turning to recycling in increasing numbers.

There are hundreds of millions of printers in the US today, and many more hundreds of millions of toners, or ink cartridges.  Each printer will go through at least a few a year with light use, those who print much more will go through many hundreds.

Printer cartridges and toners are now classified as hazardous waste.  They are made of industrial chemicals and take a very long time to degrade.  Often polluting the surrounding area when they do.  Many responsible toner retailers like Quikship offer recycling services as part of their business model.  Even offering to pay the shipping for customers willing to recycle their consumables.

But what happens once the cartridge has been sent for recycling?

To start with they are sorted into type.  Cartridges separated from toners, colors from black and those already recycled to those not.  They are then cleaned up and prepared for recycling.

Laser toners are mainly sent back to their original manufacturers to be re-filled and re-used.  Those that can be re-used are then sold again as recycled products, often at a discount.  Those toners that can’t be recycled are either broken down into their component parts and re-used where they can be.  The plastic that simply can’t be re-used in its original form is shredded and then recycled into generic plastic material.  The metal is sorted into type and melted down to be re-used.

Inkjet cartridges are most often broken down to be recycled into other things.  They are generally not re-used like toners.  Inkjet technology requires a precision that recycled cartridges cannot offer at this time.

The cartridges are shredded, then sifted to separate the plastic from the metal.  Both are then melted down into other things.  They may even be melted down and re-used in another cartridge.

The reason that printer toners and cartridges are so abundant now is because of this recycling system.  There simply aren’t the resources, or investment necessary to be able to produce brand new cartridges in such numbers without being able to re-use materials.  Not only would there be less of them around, but they would also cost a lot more.

Taking a minute to recycle your empty printer cartridge or toner is not only a good thing for the environment, it also keep the industry moving and able to supply demand.  Recycling helps the planet, and keeps the cost down.  This is the holy grail as far as environmentalism is concerned.