You want to turn in your inkjet cartridges or your cell phone for recycling, because you really don't want to throw either in the trash. You do a Google or Yahoo search. Pages and pages of results come back for inkjet and cell phone recycling. What to do??
If you are concerned enought to not want to trash either your cartridge or cell phone and you've bothered to do a search, then the next thing you should be concerned about is REUSE.
Sustainability is really the function of "reusing" things whether it's electronics, clothes, water, cans, etc. You turn in your cans and plastic water bottles so that they will be broken down and the plastic and aluminium will be reused. That way we don't have to produce so much plastic and aluminium using raw materials. We can reuse.
The same is true for inkjet cartridges and cell phones but both of these are actually much easier to reuse. Empty inkjet cartridges are easily remanufactured. This means taking out the old sponges and all OEM ink and putting in new sponges and different ink. The plastic casing that inkjets are made of are industrial grade plastic which lasts forever, so many inkjet cartridges can actually be remanufactured multiple time as long as they are packed with a little care when sending them in for recycling and reuse.
Cell phones are even easier. It either works or it doesn't and it's either new enough technology that someone wants it or not. If the technology is less than 18 months old (as a general rule) and it's not cracked or broken, it can probably be refurbished and reused.
Remanufactured inkjet cartridges are sold by many companies as "compatible cartridges" or"remanufactured cartridges". They won't have an HP, Dell or Lexmark sticker on them. They do not as many people think invalidate your printer warranty. They are generally of high quality and cost about half the price of a new cartridge.
Over 700 million inkjet cartridges are sold in the U.S. every single year. About 150 million get turned into recycling programs. Some of these programs collect them to remanufacture them and reuse them, others destroy them. Make sure your program reuses them. Otherwise you really haven't contributed to being sustainable. A new cartridge will still have to be make using raw materials and creating more plastic.
Over 130 million cell phones are "retired" each year. Only 13 million get turned in for recycling. It's estimated that 40 million get stored in drawers and 65 million are unaccounted for.
Please make sure that your inkjet cartridge or cell phone will be REUSED.
www.TheGreeningPlace.com
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Re-manufactured ink cartridges are good for the environment, hassle free, and just as good quality as brand new ink cartridges.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that in the past, the quality of remanufactured ink cartridges and toner remanufactured cartridges was not always up to the standard. But today’s, ink cartridges are often much cheaper than original manufacturer products. It also better for the environment than new cartridges.
ReplyDeletePrinter Cartridges|Inkjet Cartridges
Thanks.