What you might not know is that Officeworks have collected over 5 million printer cartridges and have been a member of Planet Ark’s Recycling Program for 12 years. It’s no surprise since Officeworks are so well known for supplying and offering support with office stationery and devices. The next most popular option was Office works (18%). Having your cartridge refilled is a great option, it helps the environment and is cost effective, but refilling is not something all printer companies support. It was found that when asking people where they take their cartridges to recycle a majority, 46% to be exact, get their empty cartridges re-filled.
Where do I take my empty print cartridges? Planet Ark are a not-for-profit environmental organisation. You can use the Planet Ark website to find your local store that collects cartridge for proper recycling. Like mobile phones or batteries, printer cartridges need to be recycled in a particular way. While they have the best intentions, the process required for recycling printer cartridges is different to that of plastic, paper or metal. Of the respondents, 2% throw their cartridges in a standard recycling bin. It was surprising how low the results were for both refilling cartridges (7%) and recycling appropriately (7%). We found, there are 39% who recycle but didn’t specify whether they throw the empty cartridge in a normal recycling bin, get their cartridge refilled or take them to a store or government official who can correctly recycle them. During that time, the ink or toner in the cartridge can seep into the surrounding soil or water, poisoning it for centuries long after the cartridge has degraded.Īn article by Planet Green Recycle states that as much as 97% of an empty toner cartridge can be recycled and made again into a new cartridge. It would take hundreds of years, at best, before the cartridges deteriorate. Toner and ink cartridges are made up of fine plastic particles, carbon and toxic colouring agents, all of which are not something mother nature can easily degrade. After recently surveying 1,000 Australian men and women aged 18-65+, Ink Station found a staggering 45% throw their empty printer cartridges in the rubbish instead of having them refilled or recycling them correctly.
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