Did I mention that I might just do a bit of recycling?
Well, after two years of keeping printer cartridges, I had enough to warrant a trip to the newsagent to recycle them. I visited a great site that Kim found called “Recycling Near You“, created by Planet Ark so I could find my nearest cartridge recycling centre. It is now so easy to find a recycling station near you in Australia, not only for printer cartridges, but for all stuff that has the potential to be recycled.
As we use a lot of ink due to the Sustainable Living Group stationary demands (how ironic), here is what I ended up with after two years of collection. A big bag full of plastic ink cartridges.
They went to the newsagents and into a bin similar to this.
Another bag full of cardboard boxes. These went into the normal recycling bin at home.
Here is an example of the types of printer cartridges that you could recycle. Anything from laser printer toner, to inkjet cartridges like mine.
The only thing that I couldn’t recycle was the little plastic bags that came in the inkjet boxes.
They didn’t have an identification number on them, so I really wasn’t sure if I could recycle them. Not wanting to contaminate my recycling bin, I was forced to put them into landfill which broke my heart.
So, if you have the need to dispose of your next toner cartridge, please think twice before throwing it into the normal bin.
Look for this logo, or organise a workplace collection by visiting the Cartridges 4 Planet Ark website. Diverting waste from landfill just makes common sense. If you want to know what happens to your old printer consumables, have a look at the recycling methods and products. You may be sitting on some in your local park!