Printer Cartridges

Don’t let your old printer cartridges end up in landfill

More than 18 million printer cartridges are thrown away every year in Australia. This includes inkjet and toner cartridges, photocopier toner bottles and drum units, fax rolls and printer heads. Why is it such an undesirable product for landfill? It’s the complex nature of plastics, metals, foam, ink and toner that make up a cartridge. When broken apart, they can contaminate our groundwater, soil and environment.

How businesses can recycle printer cartridges

Contact us to collect your used or obsolete cartridges to ensure they are recycled efficiently and appropriately. Alternatively, your business may be eligible to receive a cartridge collection box from Planet Ark to safely dispose your unwanted cartridges.

  • Reduce landfill waste. Cartridges dumped in landfill generally take hundreds of years to break down and pose environmental and public health risks.
  • Extract resources for other uses. The plastics, metal and inks found in cartridges can be processed and reused to manufacture new products.
  • Save water and energy. The amount of water and energy required to produce new products from recycled cartridge materials is relatively less than manufacturing from new materials.

 

Lower greenhouse gases. Cartridges left in landfill contribute to the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The majority of empty cartridges are recycled again into toner cartridges. For those that aren’t, the various components are separated and used for a number of purposes including:

 

  • Toner – is recycled to make TonerPave an asphalt additive that improves the performance and durability of roads. It is also used to produce Tonerseal, a road spray seal binder.
  • Ink – is removed and reused in low grade printing applications.
  • Clean plastics – reused for various applications such as EnviroLiner felt tip pens, which is 90% recycled material.
  • Metals – are extracted and used for the manufacture of new products.
  • Other materials and stained plastics – are utilised in the production of eWood, a timber replacement product used in the creation of outdoor furniture, fencing and garden landscaping.

 

Recycle printer cartridges at home

Planet Ark make it easy for you to recycle the printer cartridges used for your equipment at home through the Cartridges 4 Planet Ark program. You can drop off your used cartridges to any Officeworks store and participating Australia Post, Harvey Norman, The Good Guys and JB Hi-Fi retailers.

Recycle your printer cartridges today! Contact Total Green Recycling, we’re just a phone call away on (08) 9258 6009 or get in touch online.