How to recycle your empty ink cartridges

Why is it important to recycle my empty cartridges?
It is estimated that we throw away over 380 million empty inkjet cartridges each year around the world! At the present time, only approximately 5% of all empty inkjet cartridges are currently being recycled and re-used.

To create an ink cartridge from scratch it takes up to three pints of valuable oil to produce a single printer cartridge. That equates to a full barrel of oil for every 50 new cartridges manufactured.

Recycled cartridges can cost up to 65% less than original cartridges. To dispose of thrown away cartridges authorities have to make use of landfill sites and incinerators, each method will harm our planet.

Cartridge casing contains a plastic that may take up to 1,000 years to decompose into the earth.

Now that you know the shocking truth and would like to help save our planet's future, you want to know how to recycle your cartridges. The whole process of recycling your ink cartridges is simple. In fact, the most you will have to do is print out a Freepost address label!

Firstly, visit this website www.inkcartridgerecycle.co.uk. You will be able to print out a Freepost label so that you can post your empty ink cartridges. Then, pop your cartridges into a parcel or envelope, attach the Freepost label and then post it. That's all there is to it!!

Once your parcel has been received, www.inkcartridgerecycle.co.uk will pay you via Paypal or cheque.

Wouldn't it be nice to be rewarded for helping the planet? Well, you can.

www.inkcartridgerecycle.co.uk will pay you based on a price per cartridge. Each cartridge has it's own value and to get a list of accepted cartridges and their value visit this link accepted cartridges. While it's just a few pence per cartridge, collecting empty cartridges and recycling could provide you with a little bonus.

Here's a good idea. Why not get your family and friends to collect empty ink cartridges and then send them to www.inkcartridgerecycle.co.uk.

You could launch a collection for your local school or charity or maybe for a after school club or local sports club. It's a great way to gain valuable funds and above all else it's FREE!!

So, what you waiting for? Get collecting those cartridges.

Recycling waste is a modern day reality but there are still other ways that we use to dispose of our household rubbish. Here is a little about some of the ways in which our rubbish is dealt with.

Landfill Sites
In the UK landfill sites are becoming a major problem, simply because of the fact that we are running out of space to bury our rubbish. That basically is what a landfill site is, a hole to bury our rubbish and waste that cannot be recycled. Once buried, the resources that could be reused are lost forever.

Landfill creates other problems too. A substance called leachate (created by liquids, juices and rainwater that collects at the bottom of the landfill hole) can drain down into underwater streams and contaminate them, making them unsafe to use. Dangerous gases, buried into a landfill site can escape into the air. Tough regulations have since been introduced that help reduce the prospect of gases and dangerous liquids escaping.

To reduce the amount of new landfill sites being created across the country and further mark the countryside, abandoned mines and quarries have been transformed into landfill site. However, our small island is running out of space fast and we need to find another alternative to mass rubbish dumping soon as it takes many years for the waste to be broken down and naturally recycled back into the earth.

Incineration
In inner cities where landfill is not possible, incineration or rubbish burning is used to dispose of waste. This can be recycled as the fire from the burning can create electricity normally created by burning fossil fuels such a s coal, oil and gas. Once the waste is burnt, the resulting ash is easier to bury in landfill but paper and organic waste once burnt are lost and can't be recycled.

Recycling
Most supermarket car parks possess recycling banks where people can safely 'post' recycle friendly household waste such as paper, glass and clothing into large containers. These containers are then taken away, sorted and then sent to various plants to be remade into products for use.

Most local governments and councils have recycling centres open to the general public to bring their waste which have not been collected by the weekly refuse collection. These collection sites are a valuable option to recycling and everything that is collected is but back into production. Materials that can't be reused is then shipped for disposal.

Although recycling is an obvious option, re-filling your empty cartridge is another fantastic way of helping the environment. Although it sometimes can be tricky to get the results you want and maybe a little messy, it could save you a lot of money in the future.

Here's our lens about refilling a black ink cartridge.

how to refill a black ink cartridge

Just a quick note before you leave our lens. When your cartridge finally runs out, you do not have to dispose of it via a recycling scheme. Depending on the cartridge, you may refill the cartridge yourself. Although this can be messy and you can't always guarantee the quality of the print after refilling, this is an option.

There are refill kits available for nearly all types of inkjet cartridge.