Over 350 million printer cartridges are disposed of in landfills worldwide each year and it can take up to 1,000 years for the cartridges to decompose. Here are some ways you can get rid of old cartridges without harming the environment.
Recycle
Find a place that will take your old cartridges and recycle them.
Most local office supply stores recycle ink cartridges. Staples, Best Buy and OfficeMax/Office Depot all provide cartridge recycling programs, and you can earn rewards. Staples offers $5.00 in rewards when recycling ink cartridges, limited to one trip per month.
OfficeMax and Office Depot programs offer $2.00 for each recycled ink cartridge when making a qualifying $10 purchase in the same month.
Walmart, Costco, and Target all have ink cartridge drop off bins.
Many printer manufacturers also offer recycling programs.
HP: Drop off printer cartridges at participating office supply stores or ship them free of charge. HP also handles recycling services for Samsung ink and toner cartridges. HP Recycling Program
Canon: Drop off cartridges at any FedEx location.
Lexmark: Offers a free mail-in cartridge recycling program.
Epson: Package your used consumables in an appropriate shipping envelope or box. Mail your package to:
Epson America, Inc.
Attn: Recycling Center
2350 Stafford Road, Suite 101
Plainfield, IN 46168
Brother: Recycles inkjet, toner, and drum cartridges through a free mail-in program. Simply place your old cartridges in your new cartridge’s packaging and attach a free shipping label. Brother Recycling Program
Cartridges for Kids: is a program that allows a charity or school to collect cartridges and receive money in return. They collect items including ink and toner cartridges, cell phones, laptops, tablets, e-readers and more.
You can also contact your local recycling center, some accept ink and toner cartridges along with other printer waste.
Sell
Tonerbuyer
They buy empty printer cartridges and new, unused printer, copier, and fax supplies. Tonerbuyer
Cash4toners
Buys a variety of imaging supplies from a number of different manufacturers. Some of the brands they buy include Brother, HP, Canon, Dell, IBM, Sharp, Oki, Panasonic, Lexmark, Ricoh, Samsung, Xerox, and more.
The Tech Minimalist 