Printer ink that's pricier than champagne: Black cartridge costs 51p a millilitre but Dom Perignon is just 15p

A set of replacement cartridges for a home printer costs £45, far less than a bottle of Dom Perrignon at £109

But, drop for drop, the ink becomes far more expensive

Machines also waste a lot of ink during the printer head cleaning process

A printer can use 600 per cent more ink to produce 50 pages on an occasional basis than in one session

An unnecessary extravagance? Dom Perignon is cheaper drop for drop than printer ink

For most cash-strapped families, splashing out £109 on a bottle of Dom Perignon would be an unthinkable extravagance.

Printer ink? A necessary expenditure. But, drop for drop, the champagne is actually far cheaper.

The black ink in a standard cartridge for a home printer costs 51p per millilitre – around 240 per cent more than the 15p per millilitre price of a bottle of Dom Perignon.

The startling figures have been revealed by consumer organisation Which?

On average, a set of replacement cartridges for a home printer costs £45, far less than a bottle of Dom Perignon, at £109, or a bottle of 40-year-old Tawny vintage port, at £125.



Drop for drop, however, the ink becomes far more expensive.



The champagne comes in at 15p per millilitre, while the port costs 17p for each millilitre.

By comparison, Canon charges around 51p per millilitre for black ink, and as much as £1.05 per millilitre for coloured ink, which comes in yellow, magenta and cyan.



A 19ml cartridge of its black ink is £9.69, while each 9ml colour cartridge costs £9.49.

Which? also revealed how many machines are routinely wasting large amounts of ink during the printer head cleaning process, which either starts automatically every time the power is turned on, or after a set period.

It means a printer can use 600 per cent more ink to produce 50 pages on an occasional basis than in one session.



The waste is good news for manufacturers, who sell the machines relatively cheaply and then make huge profit margins on the replacement cartridges.

Wasteful: Many printers waste large amounts of ink during the printer head cleaning process (stock image)

The problem is identified in the latest issue of Which? Computing, which complained: ‘Inkjet printers seem to have a fascination with keeping themselves clean.



Switch one on, or finish printing some documents, and often a printer will initiate a cleaning cycle.

‘This involves spitting ink into an ink absorber within the printer with the aim of keeping the ink nozzles clear and in tip-top condition. But, cleaning cycles can be very wasteful of ink.’

Which? tested five inkjet printers from major manufacturers, including HP, Epson, Canon and Brother.

It found huge differences in the cost of printing 50 pages in one go, compared with printing the same number of pages on an occasional basis over eight weeks.

For an HP Officejet Pro 8500A Plus eAIO, it cost £2.50 on a one-off basis, compared with £17.48 over eight weeks – a mark-up of 600 per cent. HP refused to comment.