Imagine how many toner ink cartridges your household goes through on a yearly basis. Now, imagine how many a busy office goes through, or a college library. Where do all of these go? Mostly, they end up in the garbage, which eventually leads to a landfill. It’s time to start thinking about the benefits of recycling printer toner cartridges.
Ink cartridges are made out of plastic, which is a petroleum-based product that takes roughly 1,000 years to decompose. What many people don’t know is that recycling used toner cartridges is easy and, in the long run, very beneficial for the environment.
Many companies have already started curbing the amount of cartridges we are dumping into landfills. HP has recycled more than 250 million HP print cartridges worldwide since it began it’s Planet Partners program in 1991. The industry as a whole has also made efforts to reduce product waste. Solid ink products are cartridge-free now and produce up to 90% less waste than other laser printer products.
Recycling toner ink cartridges helps reduce the amount of solid waste generated and also conserves raw materials that could be used for other manufacturing purposes. Solid ink printers exhibit 17% lower Cumulative Energy Demand and 13% lower Global Warming Potential than laser printers, and by improving this energy efficiency, we conserve raw materials.
It is important to understand that the energy needed to produce a new product is significantly larger than reusing or recycling an old product. Unfortunately, only 20 to 40% of toner ink cartridges are recycled a year — the rest end up in landfills.
Though many people may not believe so, recycled cartridges are just as good as the new ones. Buying recycled cartridges — which are retailed at a lower price — does not mean you are sacrificing quality. Ink and printing companies, such as HP, have also taken measures to reduce their environmental impact in other ways. For example, Enhanced Monochrome Toner uses 15% less energy to reach fusing temperature, resulting in a 10 to 15% improvement in printer energy consumption per page.
It isn’t hard to recycle a cartridge. Many office supply stores, churches, schools, and businesses will have their own cartridge recycle bin for you to drop your used ink cartridges into. There are also plenty of tips and tricks online to help you extend the life of your printer toner and ink. Read more blogs like this.
