Here s Why You Should Recycle Printer Cartridges?
Today, many Australians are familiar with the benefits of recycling newspapers, pop cans, and glass and plastic bottles—yet they still throw out their used ink and toner cartridges, unaware that it is in fact possible to recycle printer cartridges. This is unfortunate; not only can buying remanufactured cartridges save both families and businesses a great deal of money, ink cartridge recycling is integral to the health of our natural environment.
Each year, Australians throw away more than 18 million printer cartridges, contributing to a global epidemic of landfill pollution that includes laser toner cartridges, inkjet cartridges, photocopier toner bottles and drums, and other printing paraphernalia. When you consider the fact that the United States throws out a staggering 350 million printer cartridges every year and the UK disposes of 45 million, it becomes clear that the worldwide figure for total printer cartridge disposal may well amount to over one billion cartridges per year.
This problem amounts to a lot more than simply a temporary loss of landfill space: When we fail to recycle ink cartridges, we create millions of tonnes of non-biodegradable waste that will linger in our landfills for over a thousand years thanks to the high resin content of printer cartridges. Still not worried? Then consider this: Each and every one of these cartridges will spend the next millennium slowly leaching toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the world’s water supply. Not only does this contaminate precious supplies of fresh drinking water, carcinogenic VOCs are gradually building up in the world’s oceans, poisoning marine animals—many of which we rely on for food.
We also need to consider the carbon footprint involved in creating new printer cartridges: Manufacturing new laser printer cartridges consumes a gallon of oil per cartridge, whereas printer cartridge recycling and toner cartridge recycling takes just a fraction of this amount to complete. And of course, the less we rely on fossil fuels, the lower our total carbon emissions will become, helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Fortunately, attitudes toward cartridge recycling and toner recycling are slowly improving: Today, many printer cartridge brands (such as Brother, Canon, Epson, HP, Konica Minolta, and Kyocera) are participating in cartridge recycling programs like the ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ scheme, which accepts inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges, toner bottles, fuser and drum units, fax rolls, print heads, and waste hoppers, containers, collectors and kits for recycling. So far, the ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ program has been a resounding success, recycling more than 31 million cartridges from over 30,000 businesses and over 3,000 retail outlets.
At Boomerang TCR Qld, we’re proud to say that we recycle and remanufacture printer cartridges and engage in toner recycling. We know that remade can be even better than ‘brand new,’ both in terms of print quality and the environmental rewards we reap when we recycle toner cartridges and ink cartridges. We know that up to 97 percent of the materials that make up a printer cartridge can be recycled and that many printer cartridges can safely be refilled up to a dozen times before reaching the end of their lifespan (and of course, cartridges consumes no fossil fuels at all).
Boomerang TCR Qld is committed to producing a superior printing experience today and a healthier planet tomorrow—we hope you’ll join us on our journey.
