I am not whole-hog microplastics phobic, but indeed it makes sense to open the bags before using them, and transfer the tea to a non-plastic infuser, if readily available. That did not occur to me; thanks for the tip! From there, I can only think of a reuse like containing small items for ultrasonic cleaning -- in avoiding ingestion of microplastics.

Knowingly avoing the question. I'm sorry. In my region (Flanders), they are asked to be thrown in the non-recyclavle trash, which grings as much gears with me as with you. I also upvoted a peer comment calling out the microplastics which are liberated from the mesh each time it is heated. Far be it for me to tell other people how to prepare their tea, but I'd like to caution you for the (added) microplastics.

Glad you're trying to make an effort to preserve our environment.

My husband bought sinilar tea bags. I open them up prior to use and place the content in a stainless steel tea egg. I'm sure he bought bags by accident as we usually drink loose tea.

If only there was a way to make a reusable mesh so you could infuse loose leaves instead of plastic trash 🤔

Nonsense. Reusing what you already have enables avoiding buying new. It’s the whole point of reuse.

You're already actively trying to avoid purchasing more plastic, reusing the existing plastic waste isn't going to change that.

Mmmmmmmmm, microplastics.

I would have read it if you'd used an honest title.

Well my previous salvaged brother really was in a dumpster, not on the curb. Bizarre that this makes much difference for you. Nonetheless, I am not convinced you are honest about not reading the post as you ramble on about laser printers -- not that it matters.

thanks for the advice my brother from another dumpster

Yes, normal people respond like this ⬆️ lol

I don't think you can advise anyone about humor...

I would have read it if you'd used an honest title. There was no reason for this.

I'd like to find a working laser printer, I want one every once in a while, and driving somewhere to use one is inconvenient. Samsung stopped making toner cartridges for the old one I had, so it became useless. No, not available third party either.

Unfortunately I cannot advise you on how you can get a sense of humor. There are actually classes on how to do stand-up comedy (funnily enough), but that only covers delivery. Maybe try getting out of the house and hanging out with people more. Sorry can’t help you. Maybe a friend can help get that stick out of your ass.

Is it bad when a giant organization resorts to click-bait, but fine for individuals users?

My opinion: it's not cute or funny, it's annoying and dishonest.

Catchy headline, you got me

I don’t suppose there is any practical way to use a vacuum.

I can't help with the rest of your post, but have a look at the big dust extraction setups for woodworking. They suck the dust away into a container without sucking it into the pump.

I don't know too much about them, but they pull the dust into the container without clogging the filters, so it might work on a smaller scale for toner.

Good luck :)

But in terms of recovering toner destined for landfill, what can we do?

There is only a small amount of toner left in a cartridge (perhaps 10% at the max?) which might be a few ml or oz. The danger to the exercise of trying to recover it would be:

1. being inhaled by the human
2. spread of excess microplastics to the environment.

Lets even say you're successful in recovering it. Any moisture is going to ruin the prints or other printer parts. Not all toner is the same size, so mixing them is going to lead to possible bad image quality or more of the toner coming off on hands or being inhaled by document holders (because its unfused).

I would highly recommend against this. The best I think we could to would be to melt the whole cartridge so the microplastic toner becomes a single large solid.

A thermostat is such a simple device that to my sensibilities it feels like you should be able to rig something. * (i'm not a hardware guy and nothing i say should ever be taken as electrical advice)*

Or, a timer setup, janky as it would be, could suffice for some use cases maybe. (Bait cooler for fishing?)

If you can get it to below freezing, you could possibly set it up as a freezer?

Hm, have you felt the need for a beer or wine fridge before this happened? If not, it might be less wasteful to give it away to someone who can fix it or use it for parts instead of using electricity for something you don't really need. This isn't supposed to be judgmental, more power to you if you do want a wine fridge!

Off topic, but how do you boycott banks?

If you're pawning it off then just describe the current condition: that the thermostat is broken.

If you modified it then sell it as spare parts/scrap or give it away free.

If you're doing DIY for personal use or as specifically commissioned then sure, modify how you like. If you're always putting the same amount of stuff of the same type in the fridge then you could maybe get a timer working after lots of trial and error, assuming the fridge is in a climate controlled environment (constant temp). It will also not do any defrost cycles so frost will build up rather quickly.

Anyways, don't burn your, or your friend's house down.