by JonA lot of charities, schools, home users and businesses have started to recycle printer cartridges and a lot of people are now trying to find which companies offer a free collection as some companies charge to take the empty printer cartridges away. A good scheme should always be free to join and a lot have some rewards as a thank you for recycling. The most popular types of cartridges that are recycled are Hewlett Packard, Lexmark, Brother, Canon & Samsung.
If you use Epson inkjet then you will find that most printer cartridge recycling schemes will not take them unless they are accompanied by some other cartridges. This is due to the Epson cartridge missing a vital patent, which means that a company other than Epson can go and make that cartridge legally. Consequently, there is no need to recycle the empty cartridge. The costs in recycling are outweighed by the relatively low cost of manufacturing a new Epson cartridge.
A lot of printer cartridge recycling schemes will take inkjets but not accept empty toner cartridges, so you are stuck with a lot of toners, which are bigger and harder to dispose of. So try to look out for a scheme where you can recycle ink cartridges and toner as well. A good recycling scheme will just ask you to save them all together and collect in one go, saving you time and effort separating them all. Generally, most schemes only accept original brand cartridges, but the better ones will allow you to put compatible in as well, so long as you have some original as well.
Once you have decided to recycle ink cartridges, you can find a scheme that will give you a free collection and offer cash or sometimes high street vouchers for your empty cartridges. High street voucher schemes are good as they give you a tax free incentive that you can share with workmates or use at a variety of well known high street shops to buy things for yourself or your office. It really depends on how many empty cartridges you have to recycle. Some companies use lots and may earn £50.00 in high street vouchers, if that's you, then you'd probably use then to treat yourself, but if you only get £8.00 in vouchers then you might want to buy some treats for the office or your workmates.
People who do recycle ink cartridges will know the satisfaction of helping the environment and knowing that their empty toners or inkjets are not sat in a landfill site somewhere polluting their children's planet.
For more info, or if you would like to recycle ink cartridges, check out www.recycleinkcartridges.co.uk - there are plenty of resources including some interesting recycling facts and a fun recycling quiz.
About the AuthorEntrepreneur, eco warrior and sustainable management advocate.
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