A way to go green

Reasons to Reuse or Recycle

Both reusing and recycling keeps cartridges out of landfills. Each year millions of tons of cartridges are dumped in landfills. These cartridges do not decompose that easily, and they even release toxins and hazardous substance into the environment.

Reusing cartridges means a significant reduction in both energy and resources. Around two litre of oil is used in the manufacturing process of one single laser printer cartridge. So, reusing conserves oil, which is a non-renewable material. Recycling also conserves steel and aluminum, two other resources used in the manufacture of printer cartridges.  

“The initiative of Re-feel goes a long way in making an eco-friendly world. One cartridge refilled is one less going to the landfill. Cartridges are very hazardous to nature and take 400 to 1000 years to biodegrade. So refilling does a service to nature as it helps reduce e-waste and hence conserve natural resources”, says Mr Alkesh Aggarwal, CEO, Re-feel Cartridge Engineering. “As a matter of fact, many ‘new’ cartridges that you buy also do contain used or recycled parts,” comments Mr Naveen Rakhecha, CEO, Cartridge World.

How to refill and recycle cartridges

There are a number of ways in which one can get the most out of one’s printer cartridges:

Refilling: Cartridge refills are available at computer hardware store and online. Using them is much more economical than replacing the entire cartridge. It is important to ensure that you have the correct product to match your empty cartridge. Manufacturers and retail outlets will help you find the right one. Most cartridges can be refilled, maximum three times, then they need to be replaced.

 “At Re-feel, the customers can save up to 75 per cent on the print costs and they can refill cartridges several times depending on the quality of the original printer. We use a nine-step refilling process starting from collecting empty inkjet cartridges, manual inspection, electronic inspection, flushing out old ink, ink filling, manual test, print test, packaging and delivery. After following such an extensive process, the print quality as well as the page yield from our refilled inkjet cartridges are almost equivalent to the original printer,” says Mr Aggarwal.

Recycling:  Recycled cartridges are made from revised material. Recycled printer cartridges are cartridges that are made from waste material or parts of old printer cartridges. Approximately 20-30 per cent of all sold printer cartridges globally are recycled cartridges.

By recycling printer cartridges, we can preserve natural resources; we can also reduce the need for new materials. Up to 97 per cent of the materials that is used in manufacturing of printer cartridge can be recycled or reused if taken care of.

“With our continued commitment to the mantra of reusing, we look forward to the day when reusing and refilling cartridges will be as common as separating waste materials at our homes,” opines Mr Rakhecha.

Facts about ink and toner cartridge

• It takes about 3.4 litre of oil to make a new toner cartridge.
• Globally over 900 million empty cartridges are needlessly thrown into landfill every year and this is continuously increasing
• In 1997 United Nations estimated that 41,000 tonne of plastic, contained within printer cartridges, were being dumped into landfill worldwide.
• Today that figure would probably be around 10,00,00 tonne - considering the exponential growth printers have gone through and the fact that over 70 per cent users throw away their printer cartridge after first use.
• A laser printer cartridge is said to take up to 1000 years to decompose naturally
• Every remanufactured cartridge saves nearly 3.5 pounds of solid waste from being deposited in landfills
• In one year, if the world’s discarded cartridges were stacked end-to-end; they would circle the earth over three times.