Recycle Your Inkjet Cartridges

If you've been chucking your inkjet and toner cartridges in the garbage, you're not alone. More than 13 cartridges are discarded in the U.S. every second. Learn how to recycle electronics.

By Brian Clark Howard

It's easy to reuse or recycle your inkjet cartridges, so get started today.

If you've been chucking your inkjet and toner cartridges in the garbage up to this point, you're not alone. Over 13 cartridges are discarded in the U.S. every second, according to CartridgeFundraising.com.

That's hundreds of millions of cartridges that end up in landfills every year, made with plastics that can take at least 1,000 years to decompose. Not a good thing.

It's actually easy to cut down on this waste. First off, some inkjet cartridges can be used more than once by buying a refill kit. If this seems too messy, take your empties (think copiers and faxes, too) to the nearest drop off center to be reused or recycled by others. (Plug your zip code into Earth911.org for nearby collection places.)

Many companies, such as Hewlett-Packard, take them back for free. They provide mailers or labels for you to ship them back to be recycled or refurbished.

It takes about 80% less energy to remanufacture plastic than to produce it new. And remanufactured laser cartridges use about half the amount of oil (a nonrenewable fossil fuel) needed to make brand new ones. So buy recycled cartridges to begin with. You'll save them from entering the waste stream.

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