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Recycling Printer Cartridges Makes Business Sense
There are approximately 24 million households in the UK that have a personal computer, and 90 per cent of these have printers too. With the average household using between two and three inkjet printer cartridges each year, this leads to millions of empty cartridges being dumped on landfill sites which is detrimental to the environment.
Typical printer cartridges are made from engineering-grade polymers, which can take as long as 100 years to decompose.
Recycling cartridges conserves important natural resources as it reduces demand for virgin materials. As much as 97 per cent of the materials in a printer cartridge are recyclable or reusable, providing they have been taken care of. By recycling printer cartridges, we conserve natural resources and energy by reducing the need for virgin materials.
It's estimated that only 15 per cent of the 65 million cartridges sold each year in the UK are recycled. With the environment at the forefront of collective consciousness, it makes sense to recycle, especially if you own a business and are keen to push its green credentials.
Inkjet printer cartridges can be recycled easily and remanufactured, but for some cartridges, it's easier to get them refilled and essentially recycle them yourself.
There are many organisations that will collect used cartridges from your premises once you've accumulated enough, and the organisation you choose will either pay you an agreed amount for each cartridge they take away, or donate the money to charity should you so wish. Some organisation will send out to you freepost envelopes to enable you to send them your used cartridges for recycling, and not just printer cartridges either; you can recycle fax and copier toner cartridges too.
There are likely to be many good causes locally that you could deliver used cartridges to directly, providing they accept them of course. Some schools raise money this way, and many charities collect used cartridges as a way of raising funds. Giving money to good causes creates a great PR story and publicising your goodwill donations is great for business.
The situation is slightly different if you use Epson printers and cartridges, however. You're unlikely to find an organisation that will collect and recycle this type of cartridge because they are very cheap to produce and therefore any company offering free postage for Epson cartridges would lose money.
You can recycle this type of cartridge by sending them to Epson who will re-use the components, but it would be for purely environmental reasons and there would be no financial gain, for charity or otherwise.
Better still, why not buy cheap ink cartridges - recycled cartridges that have been refilled with industry standard inks at half the price?
About the Author Thomas Pretty is an environmental specialist with many years of experience in the eco industry. Find out more about printer cartridges at http://www.inksave.co.uk
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