Waste Toner Box: Salvage and Reuse for Brother Printers

This is recycling technology beyond what companies want.

Brother would prefer you throw away the WTB (waste toner box), or return it to them.

Despite the WTB having three electrical contacts, there are no chips inside, or even elaborate sensors.

I show you how to reuse the WTB.

It is supposed to last 50,000 pages, but mine was nowhere near that, and I wanted to print right then, and not spend $100!

So I set out to get around this limitation.

Supplies

You will need a Phillips head screwdriver, and a Brother laser printer, and that is about it.

Step 1: Expose the Waste Box

Open up your printer, and remove toner and drum cartridges.

Then remove the WTB.

Step 2: Empty the WTB and Get Ready for Cleaning

There are lots of links and directions to empty the simple waste boxes in most printers, so I won't repeat them.

There are none to reset the Brother 'sensors'.

You can see the whole WTB here.

The reason my printer reported needing the WTB replaced early is possibly because it is a very sturdy printer, and has kept going after being dropped and manhandled more than is recommended!

Step 3: Clean the Clear Plastic!

These are the two 'sensors' here - The first uses the conductivity of the toner itself as it builds on the clear plastic part of the metal piece removed here.

The second one, a little grey cam gets turned more to the horizontal as it gets full. Mine had not turned, and confused me for a while.

The plastic here is clean, but the second rotating contact is in the Full position.

Step 4: Rotate

You may not need to do this step, I could have skipped it, as the sensor cam was already in the vertical (empty) position, as illustrated here.

It is a little awkward to put the little black cover back on, but no special tools are needed.

Step 5: Put It All Back Together

And you can print in full glorious RAINBOW of colour* all over again.

That is the correct spelling here :D