Studies past and present show the number one reason for not recycling has always been accessibility and convenience.
This has been largely addressed for general recycling by councils providing categorised recycling bins for collection and has been a great success because it's part of our thought process before we throw rubbish in the bin.
For printer cartridges, the ideal situation is having a recycling collection box sitting beside printers or in copier rooms in your workplace so a cartridge can be conveniently disposed of as soon as it's empty.
In this article, we'll explore some easy and convenient ways for you to recycle your ink and toner cartridges, as well as other ways you can be more sustainable in your print operations.
Printer cartridge recycling: How it works and what you need to do
There are a few things that need to happen for the cartridge that's sitting in your printer to end up in recycling - where it's supposed to be. Used inkjet cartridges, toner cartridges and toner bottles can be placed in the 'Cartridges 4 Planet Ark' recycling box.
To register for a free recycling box in your workplace visit the Cartridges 4 Planet Ark and fill out your details - a minimum of three cartridges per month must be recycled.
Once the box is full, there are a few disposal options:
- There are drop off points located at your nearest Officeworks store
- You can book a free pickup of your used cartridges from Close The Loop
This entire process is easy, convenient and best of all, it's a free service.
Where can you recycle printer cartridges?
Aside from registering for a free recycling box, you can dispose of your used printer cartridges responsibly and conveniently at Cartridges 4 Planet Ark collection boxes, located at Officeworks stores and participating retailers such as Australia Post, The Good Guys, Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Office National, and Office Product Depot outlets.
Other practical ways to make your print environment more sustainable
In addition to recycling your printer cartridges, you can also implement the following three practices to boost your sustainability efforts.
- Use draft mode in your printer settings:
For reference only or draft documents, use draft mode. This will significantly reduce the amount of toner or ink on the page, getting you more mileage from your cartridge and saving your business money. And, in the bigger scheme of recycling, it reduces the number of cartridges being disposed of
- Use cloud storage services:
Saving your documents in cloud storage services like Dropbox means you can access your documents via your mobile device everywhere you go, reducing the number of pages you need to print. There are many free options on the market and relatively cheap if you need that extra storage space
- Choose a printer with the option of high-yield cartridges:
In the printer market, printers which have high-yield cartridge replacement options give you more bang for your buck as the cost per page will be lower than standard cartridges and will give you that extra mileage, again reducing the number of printer cartridges being disposed of
These are some of the practical, easy and convenient things you can do to play a part in helping the environment we all share.
Brother’s contribution to a greener tomorrow
Brother is proud to be a full funding and founding partner of the ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ recycling program (C4PA). This Australia-wide program collects and returns cartridges for recycling with a zero-waste-to-landfill guarantee, and is free of charge for consumers.
Used Brother cartridges are turned into products like eWood; a timber replacement product; TonerPave, a low-carbon road surface; and stationery items like rulers and pens.
Read more about things made from recycled printer cartridges
