System and method for reducing plastic waste in inkjet printers

Abstract

An inkjet printer uses ink supply containers that includes bladders for holding waste fluids produced by printhead maintenance stations. The bladders are connected serially or in parallel to the output ports of the printhead maintenance stations to store waste fluids within the bladders of the ink supply containers. As the ink supply containers are depleted of their supply ink, they are replaced and new ink supply containers having bladders within them are installed to renew the capacity of the printer to store waste fluids. In two embodiments, the need for a waste fluid reservoir is eliminated and in a third embodiment, the operational life of a waste fluid reservoir is extended. In all of these embodiments, the production of plastic waste by the printer is reduced.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.