Your printer is blinking that it is out of ink. You swap out the old cartridge for a new one but what do you do with the empty one?
We’ve always recycled our laser and ink jet cartridges and I just figured that everyone knew what to do with their empties until a neighbor asked what to do with their old one.
Why recycle? According to RecyclePlace.com, the plastic from the 25 million cartridges that go into land fills every month will take over 1000 years to decompose. An article on e-How states that a third of businesses use remanufactured printer cartridges. Recycling the plastic from your cartridge not only helps to reduce the amount of trash in our landfills, but repurposed cartridges can be used up to six times with the same functionality as new ones.
Recycling is easy! There are a number of different ways you can recycle your printer cartridges:
HP cartridges come with a postage paid envelope inside each package for easy recycling. Find the envelope that is usually located along with the instructions, slip in your old cartridge, mail it back, and HP will take care of the rest.
Take your cartridge to Staples and exchange it for $3 coupon good towards new ink. According to the Staples website, they accept HP, Lexmark™ or Dell cartridges but we’ve found that our store will also take Epson cartridges back. Staples also offers InkDrop service that allows customers to drop a new cartridge in their printer and mail us the empty using the prepaid shipping materials. They will send a replacement automatically and shipping is free.
Check with your local school to see if they have a recycling program. The elementary school where I teach has a collection box inside the front door for parents, staff, and the community to drop off the cartridges. Cartridges are shipped back and our school receives money that we use to purchase new ink for our classroom printers. In a time where school budgets are extremely tight, the money generated from cartridge recycling programs is invaluable!
If your school or organization would like to get a recycling program started for your printer cartridges, here are just a few of the many sites to get one started for your family, school, or charity:
While the recycling programs may not seem to pay a ton of money for each cartridge, each little bit adds up and there is no price that can be put on helping the environment by keeping tons of plastic out of our landfills each year.
How do you recycle your cartridges? Do you have a recycling program that you currently use and recommend? Feel free to leave a comment!
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Original post by Tech Savvy Mama
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BananaBlueberry says
I’m embarrassed ! I didn’t even ever notice they came with postage paid stuff and I didn’t know about staples- THanks !!!!!!
Stimey says
Awesome! I just pulled an ink cartridge out of my printer and have plans to go to Staples tomorrow to buy ink. I’m so happy I ran across this post to remind me to take it to Staples!
Sugar Jones says
We keep a little box full of empty cartridges to turn into stores (Office Depot, Staples, etc.) that offer a $3 credit for each in return. It’s not much… just a few dollars, but yes, it does add up. After printing our holiday photos and cards, I burned through quite a bit of ink. Now I have $30 credit in empties!
Sugar Jones says
oh duh… didn’t see that you mentioned Staples… LOL. That’s what I get for looking at all the other links.
Thanks for sharing the info!
buddypress says
Buy 4 PC-21C color cartridges and get the 5th one FREE. The PC-21C color ink tank replaces the Canon BCI-21C color ink tank.
HP Ink Cartridges