I have two Brother laser printers and I just opened the toner cartridge for the one that doesn't need it yet. Do I have to seal it again or is it ok to just leave it in the box waiting for another year for the mostly unused printer to run out of toner? The mostly unused printer has had a cartridge in it for about 2 years and it fired right up and printed. I just don't know if the toner will go bad if it's not sealed and not in a printer.

Cockroaches and toner cartridges will be around forever.



Unlike, ink, which is liquid-based, toner is a dry powder composed of plastic components so it will not dry out. You can leave a toner cartridge in your printer for weeks untouched, and it should still print. Apr 3, 2019 LD Help Center

Seal it again. There is a reason it came sealed.

I would seal it again.

This scene from Three Kings was the first thing to come to my mind when I saw your thread title.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j0RYfmLiOQ4

You could probably get away with just using a decent freezer (thicker) bag, suck all the the air out of it and seal it.

Since I have a foodsaver vacuum sealer, I would just drop the whole package in one of those bags, reseal and not look back.

Zip loc makes some large bags for camping. I bet it’d fit in one of those pretty easily.

My machine toner cartridge lasts about four years, so its a head scratcher. A new cartridge is sealed in an airtight electrostatic foil bag to keep it "fresh" and perhaps charge-free?

Manufacturers all have their specs for peak shelf life. Like 28 days for insulin. Although my cat's insulin stays crystal clear for months refrigerated and with no air introduced into the 300 I.U. Lantus Solostar injection pen.

Bag it, tag it, and keep it in a cool dark place. My life aspiration as well.

Whether the effort's worthwhile might depend on how long you expect to go before needing that cartridge, but you can't go wrong re-sealing it as noted above.

It's a good point that I can't lose by resealing it. I'll bag it and shove it back in the box. Thanks!