Recycling Ink and Toner Cartridges – An Environmentally Friendly Blog Post

Ink and toner cartridges, as useful as they are, require a lot of energy and materials to manufacture. The plastic casing, the chip inside the cartridge, the ink itself; all of these essential components need to be manufactured and this process has a significant impact on the environment. The carbon footprint of a new ink cartridge is estimated to be around 4.5kg of Co2.

Every time you throw an old ink cartridge in the bin and purchase a brand new cartridge, this process has to be repeated. This wouldn’t be too much of an issue if just a few people threw their old cartridges away, but it’s estimated that more 45.5 million cartridges in the UK end up in landfill every year. With 65 million cartridges used every year; that means only 30% of all printer cartridges bought are being recycled.


The Benefits of Recycling

The good news is that recycling your old cartridges has never been easier. You’ll not only be helping to protect the environment, it could save you a lot of money too. The average recycled print cartridge has a carbon footprint of 2.8kg of Co2, 46% less than that of a new cartridge. So how can you go about recycling your old ink and toner cartridges?


Have your Old Cartridges Refilled

`One method of recycling your old cartridges is to reuse them by taking them to a Cartridge World store and having them refilled. A common misconception among consumers is that the depletion of ink means that the cartridge as a whole is useless - this is akin to thinking a remote control is useless because the batteries have run out.

In most instances, a depleted ink cartridge can be refilled and reused again, and any other components it requires (new microchip, seals, etc) can be installed by our experts. This is an incredibly easy way to recycle your used cartridges.

Empty Recycle Service with Cartridge World

Even easier still, you can recycle your used ink cartridges by simply printing out the form on this page, putting the cartridge in an envelope and popping it in the post. The service is free, and we’ll look after everything else.

Recycling your old ink and toner cartridges has never been easier, and with the environment at such a critical stage, there really is no reason not to be recycling. So what are you waiting for? Get down to your local Cartridge World store or check out our range of compatible ink cartridges online!