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A Better Way to Print
An inkling of a recycling idea
Is it economical and environmentally friendly for me to recycle my empty inkjet printer cartridges instead of buying new ones?
Analysts
estimate that more than 300 million inkjet printer cartridges find
their way into American landfills every year. Each of those new
cartridges requires about three quarts of oil and other raw materials
to produce and also contributes its fair share of greenhouse gases
during manufacturing. As anyone who has ever bought one knows, they
come packaged in such excessive amounts of cardboard and plastic that
it often takes several minutes and a pair of strong scissors to break
through to even get to the ink cartridge.
Thus any effort to reuse
or recycle these items is a big win for the environment. Given the
exorbitant prices of new inkjet cartridges – the real profit center for
printer manufacturers – it makes economic sense, too.
The good news
is that Americans are already recycling more than 40,000 tons of inkjet
cartridges each year. Hundreds of companies out there are eager to pay
for your used cartridges so they can re-ink them and resell them at
prices much lower than for new ones.
We Buy Empties,
InkjetCartridge.com and the eCycle Group, among others, take back major
brand inkjet printer cartridges and pay for the privilege, even
reimbursing shipping costs. These companies usually only accept large
quantities (like 100 or more), paying between 10 cents and $5 each,
depending on the cartridge type. Meanwhile, Staples, Office Depot and
Office Max each give customers about $3 in store credit, or in some
cases a ream of office paper, for each empty cartridge returned.
Meanwhile,
most of the major inkjet printer manufacturers – including
Hewlett-Packard, Epson, Canon and Lexmark – will gladly take back empty
cartridges shipped directly to them in their original boxes.
Hewlett-Packard even puts pre-paid return shipping labels inside their
boxes to facilitate customer recycling of their used inkjet cartridges.
Several
such companies offer special buy-back rates for schools, churches and
other non-profits, which can solicit and collect used cartridges from
members and businesses to raise money. Interested organizations can
contact companies like iRethink and Funding Factory, which both have
special programs to facilitate collection and reimbursement for spent
inkjet cartridges.
Those who don’t mind getting their hands a little
messy can re-ink their empty cartridges themselves. Squeeze bottle ink
refills are the most cost effective and environmentally friendly way to
keep on printing. Inkjetman, which sells its own refilled inkjet
cartridges, also sells inkjet refill kits, which will last thousands of
pages, for about the price of a single new cartridge. FillJet sells
similar kits and estimates the cost of a refilled cartridge to be about
$2 in ink, which represents a savings of at least 80 percent over
buying refilled recycled cartridges from them.
For more information:
• iRethink: http://www.irethink.com.
• Funding Factory: http://www.fundingfactory.com.
• We Buy Empties: http://www.webuyempties.com.
• InkjetCartridge.com: http://www.inkjetcartridge.com
• The eCycle Group: http://www.ecyclegroup.com
• Inkjetman: http://www.inkjetman.com
• FillJet: http://www.inkjetrefilloutlet.com
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