Don’t Bin Cartridges!

WHETHER you’re printing out precious family photographs or important documents, printers are pretty handy devices.

Yet, while printer paper is recyclable, cartridges are tricky to recycle.

Printer cartridges are made from plastic and other mixed materials like aluminium and steel.

It’s this blend of mixed materials that makes them difficult to recycle.

And as they can’t be put in kerbside recycling bins, millions of cartridges end up in landfill every year.

However, just because printer cartridges can’t be recycled at home doesn’t mean they are not recyclable.

Almost all inkjet printer cartridges can be recycled.

There are a few recycling services you can use to make sure your old cartridges get recycled, whilst benefiting charities close to your heart.

Recycle4Charity is a simple way to recycle your old printer cartridges.

Each cartridge sent for recycling can earn the charity of your choice as much as two pounds.

So far, it has raised more than £1.5 million for charities and saved over 370 tonnes of cartridges from landfill.

Use the postcode look-up tool on its website to find details of recycling schemes near you, where you can drop off cartridges with no minimum collection amounts.

Alternatively, if you have 15 or more cartridges, you can print off a Freepost label on the website.

You can even order a collection box if you want to set up a collection point in your local community.

Another option is the Recycling Factory – the UK’s largest recycler of inkjet cartridges, recycling over eight million cartridges each year.

It’s raised over four million pounds for good causes – all while keeping old cartridges out of landfill.

To get started, sign up as a collector on its website, and order your free recycling box.

When the box is full, take it to your local post office.

Once the cartridges have been processed, a donation is made to the charity of your choice. ■