Methods and apparatus for reusing and recycling pre-printed media

A printer for printing information on a print medium that includes preprinted information located on a first portion, the printing apparatus comprising:

• a document feed path;
• a first printing mechanism adjacent to the document feed path, wherein the first printing mechanism comprises one or more ink jet heads configured to deposit ink onto the print medium in order to print the information on the print medium;
• a cleaning mechanism to clean a residual amount of ink from the one or more ink jet heads of the first printing mechanism;
• and
• a controller configured to cause the first printing mechanism to (i) print the information on a second portion of the print medium, wherein the second portion is different from the first portion, and (ii) mark an indication on the print medium at or near the first portion of the print medium using the residual amount of ink cleaned from the one or more ink jet heads of the first printing mechanism, wherein the indication identifies the preprinted information located on the first portion of the print medium as being distinct from the information located on the second portion of the print medium.

A printer for printing information on a print medium that includes preprinted information located on a first portion of the print medium, the printer comprising:

• a document feed path;
• a printing mechanism adjacent to the document feed path;
• and
• a controller configured to cause the printing mechanism to (i) print information on a second portion of the print medium, wherein the second portion is different from the first portion, (ii) clean used toner from a drum of the printer, and (iii) mark an indication on the print medium using the used toner at or near the first portion of the print medium, wherein the indication identifies the preprinted information located on the first portion of the print medium as being distinct from the information located on the second portion of the print medium.