Recycling Printer Cartridges

Printer Cartridge Recycling

If you’re a purchaser of printer cartridges and you’re looking for toner recycling or ink recycling then you’ve come to the right place! As a seller of inks and toners ourselves, it’s important to us to give our customers the best guidance when it comes to recycling empty cartridges.

We all know it’s important for the environment, and we want to do our part with printer cartridge recycling to help make the world a better place and help our customers to recycle, so on this page you can find the different ways you can recycle printer cartridges.

we’ll show you how to recycle empty inks or toner cartridges where there are no restrictions on the types or models of empty printer cartridges that you can recycle. So if you have empty cartridges that you’d like to recycle for brands such as HP, Brother, Canon, Samsung, Ricoh, Lexmark, Oki, Kyocera, Xerox and all others, read on….

Please note; we no longer offer our own collection / box service but follow the instructions below for more ways to recycle.

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What Happens to empty cartridges

Recycle empty ink cartridges

Recycle empty ink cartridges

Recycling Ink & Toner Cartridges

Recycling empty ink and toner cartridges and reducing the impact on our environment is important to all of us. Over 350 million empty cartridges are thrown away each year and the impact on the planet is frightening.

It’s our aim to provide our customers with an environmentally friendly opportunity to recycle and reuse your empty ink and toner cartridges, with no limits or restrictions. We believe that the renewal of materials used in manufacturing our products is vital, not just because it is the right thing to do, but because the future of our planet depends on our ability to recycle and reuse what we have created. Together we can start the recovery process and do our bit for the planet.

Recycle Icon

What happens to empty printer cartridges when they are recycled?

Did you know that over 45 million empty cartridges go into UK landfill sites each year, yet it’s estimated that only 15% of those are recycled or reused? Of those cartridges that go into landfill, it can take up to 1000 years for it to decompose. These are scary statistics, and that’s why it’s important for us to act now and work together to do our part for the environment.

Recycle Ink Cartridges Now Recycle Toner Cartridges Now

None of the empty cartridges that you return will go to waste which reduces the impact on the environment. Here’s what happens to your empty cartridges:

Empty cartridges are collected, then inspected and sorted to determine whether they are suitable to be remanufactured or recycled. Only the best quality empties are reused as remanufactured cartridges.

 

The empty cartridges are vacuumed and cleaned, making sure no residual ink or powder is left, then critical components are replaced. Cartridges are then refilled and fully print tested before being packed in antistatic bags and protective air bags. All remanufactured cartridges adhere to ISO standards so you can feel confident this has been done in a completely ethical way.

 

Any cartridge not suitable for the re-manufacture process are broken down into their basic parts once the waste toner powder or ink is removed to prevent contamination or the need to incinerate the cartridges.  Once this is done they recover any component parts. Recovered plastics are then processed in a facility and recycled into new products like ballpoint pens, and any recovered metal is melted down and reused to make things like car parts.

How to Recycle laser toners & ink cartridges

There are several ways that you can recycle laser toners or inkjet cartridges, however, some recycling companies will only allow you to send empty printer cartridges from a pre-approved list that doesn’t include some of the older original cartridges or any empty compatible / remanufactured cartridges.

Whilst this prevents you from doing your part as a socially responsible person or organisation, it’s generally down to the cost / legal implications, and the process required to dispose of cartridges that can’t be reused or recycled.

The best 3 methods that we’ve found to recycle your empty cartridges are:

 

  1. Recycling large quantities of toner via a box collection service.
  2. Recycling small quantities of inks via free post service.
  3. Recycling toners & inks with the original printer manufacturer.

TONER CARTRIDGE RECYCLING

1. Recycling Instructions using a box collection service:

If you have a large amount of empty toners to recycle here’s how…

  1. Simply pop your cartridges into a box to the maximum weight of 25kg.
  2. Visit the ZeroWasteRecycling.co.uk website and register your account.
  3. Arrange a collection for your box / pay any fees required.

*Please note: there is a small cost associated with the collection of a box, or if you prefer, you can arrange your own delivery of the box to zero waste recycling. TonerGiant are not affiliated in any way to Zero waste recycling and cannot arrange this service on your behalf.

Questions & Answers

Can they provide a recycle bin / collect the empty cartridges from me?
Yes! Once you register an account on the website above, if you need to recycle a large number of empty toner cartridges, you can arrange for a recycling box to be sent to you but this comes at a small charge. Once the box is full, a collection can be arranged.  All new box deliveries and box collections must be arranged by yourself via the online portal.

Box Dimensions: (H) 65cm x (W) 40cm x (D) 40cm

Maximum Weight per Box: 25kg

 

Do they restrict the number of cartridges I can send for recycling?
 

ZeroWaste don’t restrict to specific types of cartridges that you may wish to recycle. If you only have a few cartridges, if possible please help the environment by putting them to one side until you have a few more to send…that way you can reduce the number of deliveries, and help the environment further!

Do I have to pay for shipping the empty toners?
 

There is a small charge associated with the service offered by Zero Waste Recycling, however the  recycling process is completely free and you are only required to pay the cost of delivery or courier collection.

 

Can I recycle inks using this method?
Yes of course, there are no restrictions in the types of cartridges that can be recycled in this method.

INK CARTRIDGE RECYCLING

2. Recycling instructions using a freepost service:

It’s possible to recycle small quantities of empty inkjet cartridges via a freepost service. Here’s how:

  1. Simply pop your cartridges into a box (or the original packaging if you still have this)
  2. Visit the RecyclingFactory.co.uk website and register an account. You can also choose to donate to charity for items that are successfully recycled.
  3. Download their free post label and attach it to your box.
  4. Pop the box in the post (Important: please make sure that the box is no heavier than 750g)

Questions & Answers

Dothe Recycling Factory restrict the type of cartridges I can send for recycling?
Unfortunately, unlike the service provided by ZeroWasteRecycling offered for recycling toners (which can be used to recycle ink cartridges too), the Recycling Factory do have a qualifying list of inks that can be recycled. You can find full details in their FAQ.
Do you restrict the number of cartridges I can send for recycling?
Please make sure that the box is no heavier than 700g. Whilst we want you to recycle every empty cartridge you have, their free-post delivery service has a maximum weight allowance of 700g. As a guide, an empty ink cartridge is on average 0.04kg so that would allow you to add between 20-30 empty ink cartridges.  Please make sure your box is no heavier so that there aren’t any delivery problems, if you have more, please see the section below.
Can you collect the empty cartridges from me?
If you need to recycle a large number of empty ink cartridges, please use the service by ZeroWasteRecycling.co.uk who can collect the box from you.

Recycling at your nearest Recycle centre

3. How to recycle empty ink or toner at your local recycling centre

Most local recycling centres allow you to take your empty ink and toner cartridges for recycling. There is an easy way to check which centre is closest to you with the handy postcode search on the Recycle Now website.

Original Printer Manufacturers Recycling schemes

4. Recycling via your original printer manufacturer’s own scheme

Most original printer manufacturers offer their own recycling schemes so that if you purchase original inks and toners, you can use their schemes completely free. Find your printer manufacturer below and follow the correct link to arrange to return your empty original inks or toners for recycling.

HP Planet Partners printer Cartridge Recycling

You can recycle your Empty HP laser toners or inkjet cartridges using HP’s accredited recycling service and feel confident that nothing will go to landfill. HP offer the ability to print postage and box labels for small quantities of returns, and you can also order a large recycling box / collection for large quantities of products.

Samsung Laser Toner Recycling

The Samsung printing division was purchased by HP in 2017 – 2018 and now you can recycle you empty original Samsung laser toners via the HP recycling program. For more information and to arrange your recycling, click the following link:

Brother Earth Free ink & toner recycling

Brother provide their ‘Earth’ recycling scheme that will allow you to recycle inks, toners, drums and even old printers and the best thing of all is that it’s completely free to use. Similar to other brands, recycling is done responsibly and you can rest assured that nothing goes to Landfill.

Lexmark Cartridge Collection Program

Lexmark offer 3 ways to arrange the recycling of your empty cartridges. Firstly you can use the recycle bag that comes with ‘Return Program Cartridges’ and post them yourself. Secondly, you can print off a box label on the Lexmark website (for small quantities) and finally, you can arrange for a recycling box and get it collected for free when it’s full.

Xerox Green Alliance Recycling

Unlike other brands, Xerox only recycle certain products and you will need to select the printer and product model from their list. If your product isn’t on the list, they suggest you recycle via other methods. If you’re looking to recycle empty Xerox toners, visit the following link:

Canon Cartridge Recycling

Canon have been helping their customers to recycle empty inks and toners for over 25 years and have a fantastic service that allows you to utilise either a bulk cartridge return or individual cartridge return. To find out more about what they offer and arrange a return, follow this link:

Kyocera Toner Cartridge & Cassette Recycling

Kyocera have a ‘zero to landfill’ commitment and offer a free toner cartridge and cassette cartridge recycling service via a recycling partner on their recycling partner OEMReturn. The service is free for any Kyocera customer. To  sign up and arrange a return, follow this link: