Recycling is a practice that is being promoted from quite a few years now. Be it at the workplace or a school several campaigns showcasing the benefits of reusing the goods have been run. Beverage bottles, cans, paint and even paper, all are designed to be used again. By implementing certain specialized techniques an item can be avoided from ending up in a landfill. Just throwing off an item in the waste bin will do no good.
Along with all the other goods or items that should be recycled but often ends up in the dumps are the ink and toner cartridges. In this post, we are going to highlight the importance of recycling these cartridges through the below-mentioned points.
Benefits The Environment
First things first. By reusing or recycling the cartridges a person will be benefiting the environment in a major way. Landfilling the cartridges will lead to water and air pollution due to the emissions caused by them. Manufacturing the new ones will deplete our natural resources like oil, petroleum, timber, minerals and water. When we would recycle the cartridges then the dependency on the raw materials will be significantly reduced.
According to a survey, only one-third of the print cartridges are recycled, which means that the rest 70% is just thrown away. A laser cartridge that is thrown in a landfill can take up to hundred of years to completely decompose. Keeping this in view, most of the companies all over the World have taken an initiative to spread the benefits that are associated with recycling. Not only at workplaces, even at our homes we should indulge in recycling and even motivate the others to do so.
Cost Associated Benefits
Recycling the ink and toner cartridges not only benefits the environment but the whole process is an economical one. As the cartridges are re-manufactured, there is no need for the resources that were initially used for its manufacture. This will cut down the cost associated with these resources. Along with the manufacturer, the buyer is also benefited by this. Due to the low manufacturing cost, these new like recycled cartridges will be available at a much cheaper price at the stores. All in all, it will be a win-win situation for both the manufacturer and the buyer.
Talking about a workplace that has a large number of printers. If it adopts recycling actively then it can reduce its operational cost in a huge way. Buying a large number of new cartridges will cost significantly to the company.
Safeguard The Resources
Having a look at the small size of the printer cartridges would force you to think that these would require something significant for their manufacturing. However, this is not true. The production of these cartridges is heavily dependent on the natural resources. For instance, in producing a new laser cartridge one gallon of oil is utilized. Similarly, in the case of an inkjet cartridge, the quantity of oil is close to three ounces. By recycling the cartridges we could save quite a few million gallons of oil. Along with oil, there are some other precious resources like paper and aluminum that will be saved simultaneously.
Making more and more people aware about the importance of recycling cartridges is the first step in protecting our resources. Collecting all the used cartridges and sending them for recycling or reprocessing will recover all the precious materials like metals, plastics and inks that can be utilized in producing other useful products.
Stops The Accumulation of Waste
Just throwing away the cartridges is not a solution. As discussed above, cartridges don’t decompose well and will take hundred of years to return back to their original elements. If piling up these cartridges is an easy job, managing them is not. In some cities like New York City where there is a shortage of storage place, the garbage has to be shipped to places with more space. This will amount of additional carriage costs.
All these can be prevented by adopting a simple practice of recycling the cartridges. Along with avoiding the accumulation of waste you will be indirectly benefiting the environment as well. These cartridges release tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere if they are allowed to decompose for years.
Recycle for Charity
Most of the businesses support a particular charity. There are many ways to do it and one of those is by donating the used cartridges. There are two benefits that are associated with it. One is that you will be able to raise money for the charity and the other is that you are indirectly protecting the environment. These cartridges will be recycled by these charities and will enable them to generate the needed revenue. This will be a win-win situation for typically both the parties. This is a good way to earn revenue by doing good for others. Adopting recycling is not a big step, however, the benefits that are associated with it are pretty huge.
The parts of a printer cartridge that can be recycled are plastic, rubber that is used in toner cartridges, metals like gold, aluminum, steel, palladium, copper and the metal springs that are used in ink cartridges.
Stimulate The Economy By Creating More Jobs
As more and more cartridges are recycled, the local small scale businesses will be able to purchase and convert them to remanufactured, re-filled or compatible cartridges. Due to this more number of jobs will be created. By avoiding the cartridges from getting accumulating in the landfills the taxes that are charged by the government will also be lowered. Having a look at the current economy this will prove to be very beneficial.
The overall manufacturing cost will automatically reduce that will allow the small companies to sell the remanufactured cartridges at an affordable cost. The recycled cartridges sold by these companies are according to the standards that are followed by the original manufacturer.
Recycled Cartridges Come With A Guarantee
Most of the companies that sell remanufactured ink cartridges will offer you a warranty on it. In case, if the cartridge faces any kind of flaws these companies also replace the cartridge or will offer you a refund. There are a number of sellers on various online portals that offer recycled ink cartridges nowadays. These sellers have a direct contact with the re-manufacturers that enables them to keep massive inventories of cartridges. By buying from a well known and reputed seller you will be able to ensure the quality of them.
In The End
Above is a brief description of the benefits that are associated with recycling ink and toner cartridges. All these points showcase the importance of recycling and how everyone should actively be a part of this.
Most of the major companies like HP and Canon have already supported the move and have partnered with a few programs that recycle printer cartridges. This will send to global message to all the other companies to take a step in the positive direction. At last it our planet Earth so it is our responsibility to make sure that we protect it to an extent that is possible.
I hope that the information stated in the post will persuade you in taking the right step towards recycling that will make the World a better place to live in.
Author Bio: Lance Clemons is blogger by profession with 7 years of experience. He is associated with a Printzone which is Australia’s best online printer cartridge store. He is an admirer of sharing his innovative ideas with others on the technology trends.
