Think Green: The Importance Of Recycling Ink & Toner Cartridges

Recycling is a practice that has been promoted for many years. Whether in the workplace or at school, several campaigns have been carried out showing the benefits of reusing products. Drink bottles, cans, paint, and even paper are all designed to be used again. By implementing certain specialized techniques, an item can be prevented from ending up in a landfill. Simply throwing an item in the bin does no good.

Along with all the other goods or items that should be recycled, but often end up in landfills, are ink and toner cartridges. In this post, we are going to highlight the importance of recycling these cartridges through the points mentioned below.

Benefits To The Environment

By reusing or recycling cartridges, a person benefits the environment in a major way. The discharge of the cartridges will cause water and air pollution due to the emissions they cause. The manufacture of new ones will deplete our natural resources such as oil, wood, minerals, and water. When we recycle cartridges, the reliance on raw materials is significantly reduced.

According to a survey, only a third of print cartridges are recycled, which means that the remaining 70% are thrown away. A laser cartridge thrown into a landfill can take up to hundreds of years to fully decompose. With this in mind, most companies around the world have taken the initiative to spread the benefits associated with recycling. Not only in the workplace, but even in our homes, we must dedicate ourselves to recycling and even motivate others to do so.

Cost Associated Benefits

Recycling ink and toner cartridges not only benefits the environment, but the entire process is inexpensive. Since the cartridges are remanufactured, the resources that were originally used to manufacture them are not required. This will reduce the cost associated with these resources. Along with the manufacturer, this also benefits the buyer. Due to the low manufacturing cost, these new recycled cartridges will be available at a much lower price in stores. Overall, it will be a win-win situation for both the manufacturer and the buyer.

Speaking of a workplace that has a large number of printers. By actively embracing recycling, you can greatly reduce your operating cost. Buying a large number of new cartridges will have a significant cost for the company.

Safeguard Resources

Looking at the small size of printer cartridges would force you to think that they would require something significant to manufacture. However, that’s not true. The production of these cartridges relies heavily on natural resources. For example, a gallon of oil is used to produce a new laser cartridge. Similarly, in the case of an inkjet cartridge, the amount of oil is close to three ounces. By recycling cartridges, we could save several million gallons of oil. Along with oil, there are other precious resources like paper and aluminum that will be saved simultaneously.

Making more and more people aware of the importance of recycling cartridges is the first step in protecting our resources. Collecting all used cartridges and sending them for recycling or reprocessing will allow you to recover all precious materials such as metals, plastics, and inks that can be used to produce other useful products.

Stops The Accumulation Of Waste

Simply throwing away the cartridges is not a solution. As mentioned above, cartridges do not break down well and will take hundreds of years to return to their original elements. If accumulating these cartridges is an easy job, managing them is not. In some cities like New York City, where there is a shortage of storage space, garbage must be sent to places with more space. This will incur additional transportation costs.

All of this can be prevented by adopting the simple practice of recycling cartridges. In addition to preventing the accumulation of waste, it will also indirectly benefit the environment. These cartridges release tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere if they are allowed to decompose for years.

Recycle For Charity

Most companies support a particular charity. There are many ways to do it and one of them is by donating used cartridges. There are two benefits associated with it. One is that you will be able to raise money for charity and the other is that you are indirectly protecting the environment. These cartridges will be recycled by these charities and will allow them to generate the necessary income. This will be a win-win situation normally for both parties. This is a good way to earn income by doing good for others. Adopting recycling is not a big step, however, the benefits associated with it are quite large.

Parts of a printer cartridge that can be recycled include plastic, the rubber used in toner cartridges, metals such as gold, aluminum, steel, palladium, copper, and metal springs used in ink cartridges.

Stimulate The Economy By Creating More Jobs

As more and more cartridges are recycled, small local businesses will be able to purchase them and turn them into remanufactured, refilled, or compatible cartridges. Because of this, more jobs will be created. Preventing cartridges from accumulating in landfills will also lower the taxes charged by the government. Taking a look at the current economy, this will prove to be very beneficial.

The total manufacturing cost will be automatically reduced, allowing small businesses to sell remanufactured cartridges at an affordable cost. The recycled cartridges sold by these companies are by the standards followed by the original manufacturer.

Recycled Cartridges Come With Warranty

Most companies that sell remanufactured ink cartridges will offer you a warranty. In case, if the cartridge is defective in any way, these companies will either replace the cartridge or offer you a refund. There are various sellers on various online portals offering recycled ink cartridges today. These vendors have direct contact with re-manufacturers which allows them to maintain massive inventories of cartridges. By buying from a well-known and reputable seller, you will be able to guarantee the quality of them.

At The End

Above is a brief description of the benefits associated with recycling ink and toner cartridges. All these points show the importance of recycling and how everyone should be an active part of it.

Most major companies like HP and Canon have already supported the initiative and have partnered with some programs that recycle printer cartridges. This will send a global message to all other companies to take a step in the positive direction. It is our planet Earth at last, so it is our responsibility to make sure we protect it as much as possible.

I hope that the information contained in the publication will convince you to take the right step towards recycling that will make the world a better place to live.