Recycle Used Ink & Toner Printer Cartridges: Recycling Earns Money

Recycle ink cartridges and you can earn cash or store credit from office supply stores and also help keep our landfills clean at the same time. Many people are already recycling their ink and toner cartridges because they are aware of the environmental damage that will occur if they throw them out mixed in with regular household trash. Nevertheless, more public awareness is needed.

The Environmental Toll of Throwing Away Ink Cartridges

According to statistics, more than 1,000,000 used inkjet cartridges are thrown away every single day! This adds up to be literally tens of thousands of tons of plastic ink cartridges that eventually ends up in landfills. It takes approximately 1,000 years for the components of one plastic ink cartridge to breakdown. Not to mention that the chemicals are absorbed into the soil and could leak into water systems. The more we recycle ink cartridges, less environmental damage is done.

Companies recycle ink cartridges and save money in materials, labor, and time. It's obvious that if you reuse or refill a cartridge instead of manufacturing or buying a brand new one saves money. It makes perfect sense.

Many office supply stores like Office Depot, Office Max, Staples, and others have ink cartridge recycling programs. They will accept your empty ink cartridges and give you rewards or store credit in return. They process and clean up old ink and toner cartridges, refill them with ink and sell them under their own store brand name.

Recycled, refilled ink and toner cartridges are less expensive than the major brand name ink cartridges. Consumers benefit from the lower prices.

Many people would recycle ink cartridges if they knew the environmental toll and if they knew how easy and convenient it is to recycle them. They would also be more motivated to recycle ink cartridges if they knew they could receive cash, credit, or rewards for doing so.

You can take your empty ink and toner cartridges to office supply stores and they will recycle them for you. Aside from office supply stores offering rewards or store credit for your used ink cartridges, there are other companies and organizations that will accept and collect used ink and toner cartridges. However, instead of store credit or reward cards, they will repay you with money. Some of them will mail you postage free envelopes and all you have to do is mail your emtpy ink and toner cartridges back to them. Then they will send you payment.

It's important to note that if you mail in your empty ink cartridges for recycling, you must package them properly. If they are damaged they will not be accepted and you will not receive anything for them.

You must protect the print heads on the cartridges and the package must not have any empty or loose space to allow the cartridges to move around and possibly be cracked or broken.

The way in which you decide to recycle is your choice. The different parties offer different amounts back for your empty ink and toner cartridges. Some of the companies and organizations offering money gives back less than what some office supply stores do. On the other hand the office supply stores give you back rewards in store credits, not cash. You have to spend what you get from recycling with them. It's a very clever way of keeping you coming back into their stores. Though, that's not a problem if you're already a frequent customer with them.

Do your research before you decide where to turn in your empty ink and toner cartridges. Read the terms and conditions of the different plans.

Many people sign up with a recycling program on a whim. They listen to a store cashier 's three minute sales pitch to sign up for a recycling program. They never read the fine print on the application brochure nor do they go to the website to see how the program works. Then they are upset when they don't get back what they were expecting.

Some of the disadvantages of joining office supply ink recycling programs include: Some have minimum requirements. They limit the number of empty ink cartridges they will pay you for. Sometimes you have to wait for months to receive your rewards. Some of them require that you make certain purchases within a certain period of time. Once you turn in your used ink cartridges to them for recycling, if you don't meet the conditions of their program you may not get your recycled cartridges back and you won't receive any rewards or cash back for them either. Also, they can make major changes to their ink recycling program with little or no prior notice. So, be careful and know their terms. 

Here's a list of a few companies and organizations that will give you rewards, credit, or money back for your recycled ink and toner cartridges. You can find many more by searching on the Internet.

You can find out more about these particular companies' ink cartridge recycling programs by visiting their respective website or by calling their toll free customer service phone number.