The Environment Site Green Living Guides

Green Guide to Cartridge Recycling

The guide below is written by Wobs, a member of our forum, and gives a few pointers as to the best places to recycle consumables such as printer cartridges, fax and copier toners. Many models cannot be recycled for a variety of reasons, and it is worth checking this before purchasing a new piece of equipment. A printer may be cheap, but it can still cost the Earth.

Many cartridges are refillable, but eventually even these will wear out, and require careful disposal.

How you recycle your printer cartridges will depend upon how many you consume. If you are a resident or small business, with a single inkjet, you need to be looking for either a local collection point, or a charity that sends out plastic envelopes (such as ActionAid or Childline). They are free post, so it will be a free service, with minimal effort.

Many stationery shops have cartridge collection points, so as you buy new ones, you can safely dispose of your old ones. Just make sure you have the box so it remains in good condition.

If your cartridge needs are on a more commercial scale, then a collection box of your own will be more worthwhile. Again, many charities and suppliers provide these for free, and can benefit yourself financially or you can contribute to a charity.

Services such as Lasertech or ActionAid provide this choice, and will take most (but not all) makes.

This is one of the problems with cartridge recycling, there are many cartridges that are not recyclable, and what make the printer is, is rarely an indication to its recyclability. Each of the links below will help in working out who will accept your consumables.

http://www.actionaidrecycling.org.uk/ (last updated August 2006)

Childline will send out envelopes for inkjets

Oxfam

Lasertech accept a wide range of cartridges

All require the box that the cartridge came in.

Also, make sure they have the relevant waste licenses.

They'll need a waste carrier's license unless they are:

• Waste producers carrying their own waste, except building or demolition waste.
• Ferry operators in relation to the carriage of waste by vehicles on the ferry.
• The operator of a vessel, aircraft, hovercraft, marine structure, floating container or vehicle being used to dispose of waste at sea in accordance with the Food and Environmental Protection Act (FEPA) 1985. Charitable and voluntary organisations.
• Government Departments and Councils.

And will a waste management license unless they have an exemption, in which case they'll have proof of that.

Manufacturers often provide their own recycling service.

Canon

However, despite their excellent website promising an environmentally friendly service, Canon brand toner cartridges (for LBP, FAX, PFC and MFP machines) are the only consumables that can be recycled. Ink cartridges (for BJ printers, MFP machines, Calculators and Large Format printers) and toners for other Canon machines cannot be returned through their program.

If you have a Canon machine that they do not collect, try one of the other services listed above.

If no-one takes your Canon consumable, consider refilling, or if it’s a copier consumable, taking it apart and recycling the plastic.

HP

The UK service information can be found here: https://h20010.www2.hp.com/ereturns/welcome.do?__country=GB&__lang=en

Here is a list of inject HP cartridges that CANNOT be recycled:
https://h20010.www2.hp.com/ereturns/nonreturnable.do?__country=GB&__lang=en

These lists should be used, not only as a guide for what to do with your existing consumables, but also as a clue in what should be your next purchase , as the next time you choose a printer, you can see what could happen to your cartridges.

Other manufacturers such as Dell, and Lexmark also have services, all of them will only take their own branded cartridges back, and only if they are recyclable.

• Epson
• Lexmark
• Dell

19.04.2007. 02:58