I know what you mean about printers Darren, I bought one and when the ink ran out it was cheaper to buy another printer than buy new ink cartridges for it!
This is slightly off topic, sorry, but I've noticed that ladies razors seem very inferior to mens. They just don't sem as sharp or produce a nice smooth shave like mens do. Has anyone else noticed this?
If you want to charge batteries without destroying the planet:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=10438&&source=14&doy=19m11
It really does work.
You can't, however, charge AA batteries to use for charging up mobile phones, which is what I tried. Does give about 1 hour's charge for a solid state (memory card) MP3 player, though.
Unfortunately, we're coming up to winter so this device is a tad limited. 😀