August 1st 2007

Offices Not Taking Advantage of Cartridge Recycling Programs,

Study Finds

            Less than half of all printer cartridges are recycled or reused even once by offices in the UK and US, according to new research by InfoTrends. At least half of all printer cartridges end up in the landfill, sometimes after only one use.

The number of printer cartridges ending up in the landfill is surprising considering that many of their manufacturers offer recycling for their used products. Major manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard, Canon, Xerox, and Lexmark offer some kind of recycling of their printer cartridges. Third party vendors are collecting these used cartridges as well to refill and resell. But even some of these third party companies do not recycle those cartridges that have little value.

Printer cartridges, inkjets and toners which are not put into landfill or recycled are otherwise often incinerated. This process releases harmful poisonous toxins and gases into the atmosphere which contributes to the destruction of the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect.

In the US, only 10 of laser cartridges and almost no inkjet cartridges are recycled. Each year over 65 million inkjet printer cartridges and toners are unnecessarily thrown away when they run out of ink. On average each new cartridge requires nearly one gallon of oil to be manufactured and further adds to the exhaustion of our fragile resources.

To read more, go to the article at GreenBiz.