How to Recycle Ink and Toner Cartridges

Protecting the environment is crucial to ensuring the following generations have our same opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors. Recycling plays a significant role in this effort. What do you do with the ink and toner cartridges when your printer runs dry? While throwing them away may be a common answer, recycling ink and toner cartridges is actually an important step we can all take to help preserve the environment.

Learn more about how and where you can recycle your toner and ink cartridges to keep them out of landfills.

Why Is Recycling Ink and Toner Important?

Toner and ink cartridges hold the ink we use to produce printed documents. While they are vital to our everyday tasks, they are often tossed out when empty, which poses harm to the environment because they frequently end up in a landfill. When discarded like this, plastics take hundreds to thousands of years to decompose and produce harmful gases like methane in doing so.

Recycling empty printer cartridges is an excellent way to decrease the amount of trash that goes to a landfill and keep plastics, metals, ink, toner and foam — all components of printer cartridges — out of the waste cycle. Whenever you can refill or responsibly dispose of your ink and toner cartridges, you’re contributing to a healthier Earth.

Almost every printer cartridge component is recyclable. However, while recycling paper, bottles and glass in a bin at home is fairly simple, you can’t follow those same standard recycling practices with printer cartridges. Knowing how to recycle ink and toner cartridges safely will help you play your part in protecting the environment.

How to Recycle Toner and Ink Cartridges

Recycling and reusing your ink and toner cartridges will reduce waste in landfills. To recycle empty or nearly empty cartridges, you must first find places that accept them. Due to a cartridge’s diverse components, they require special preparations before they can be recycled.

Before taking the cartridge in for processing, ensure it no longer has ink in it. You can run standard printing tests to see if it’s still capable of printing. If your printer signals the cartridge is empty, but there is a possibility that some ink or toner is left, you could use a wet paper towel to add moisture and try the printer tests again — when cartridges sit a while without running, the ink or toner can harden and settle, making the printer read the cartridge as empty. Re-wetting the ink can help you determine if there’s any left.

If nothing prints after trying that technique, you should recycle the cartridge.

Where to Find Ink and Toner Recycling Centers

There are numerous places with toner and ink recycling programs that allow you to bring your empty cartridges in for safe, responsible disposal. Ways and places you might be able to recycle toner and ink cartridges include:

• Mail-in options: Many companies have mail-in recycling programs that let you send in your printer cartridges to keep them out of landfills. Some even offer cash-back programs to give people money for recycling their ink and toner cartridges.
• Manufacturer recycling programs: The brand that produces your ink or toner may have an established program to help reduce the number of printer cartridges in landfills. Check whether your cartridge’s brand will accept the empty containers back through the mail so they can repurpose or recycle them. Each brand will have different policies, but some may also collect other items not readily accepted in local recycling centers, like certain plasticware or hangers.
• In-store at participating retailers: If you want to avoid using the mail, your local office supply store or a major office supply retailer might have an ink and toner recycling program where you can drop off empty cartridges.
• Local recycling facilities: Some local recycling facilities are capable of processing or willing to collect ink and toner cartridges. Check to see if your recycling facility has a printer cartridge recycling program.
• Cartridge collection bins: Some cities may have cartridge collection bins around town or in local businesses.

Cartridge Recycling FAQ

Recycling your ink and toner cartridges is simpler than you might think. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions regarding the steps or processes involved in recycling printer cartridges.

Can You Put Ink and Toner Cartridges in the Recycling Bin?

You shouldn’t put ink or toner cartridges in a standard recycling bin. Cartridge components are challenging to separate, creating difficulty for recycling centers without specialized equipment. Additionally, cartridges sometimes contain leftover ink that could leak, so handling the recycling properly saves you from dealing with a mess.

Is It Better to Recycle or Refill Ink Cartridges?

Refilling ink cartridges is the optimal choice, but it can typically only be done a few times before the cartridge needs recycling. When possible, reusing empty cartridges contributes to a healthier environment and allows the end user to save money. If you can, consider refilling your cartridge as long as possible and then recycling it after it no longer prints correctly.

Are Empty Toner Cartridges Worth Anything?

You may be able to sell your empty toner and ink cartridges. Some organizations have recycling programs that give you money or store points in exchange for these components. Check your local stores or online to see if any recycling programs offer something in return for bringing in empty printer cartridges.

Contact Doceo for Your Printer Needs

Whether you have questions about ink and toner cartridges or need a whole new printer, Doceo can help. We are a local, family-owned business dedicated to providing customers with quality copier and printer supplies and services. We serve businesses throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.

Learn more about printers by contacting us online, or order your supplies today to stock up!