When you toss an electronic component in the trash and watch it get carried off, do you often think about what happens to it next? Don’t feel bad if the answer’s no. Not many people realize the impact improper electronic disposal has on our environment. The simple act of recycling old electronics such as printer cartridges can save millions of tons of landfill buildup each year. There is good news – you can easily prevent this from happening. Recycling your printer cartridges has never been easier! Our team at Vegas Ink and Toner are here to share the importance of proper recycling printer cartridges as well as how you can do it.
How Much of a Problem Is Electronic Waste?
Electronic waste has become an issue in recent years. New technology hits the market so quickly nowadays that humans are struggling to figure out how to dispose of it safely. This lack of proper disposal method leads to tossing used items in the trash instead of seeking out ways to recycle them. Components like printer cartridges are then followed through the trash pick up process, ultimately ending up in a landfill. About 375 million printer cartridges get chucked into a landfill each year. The bad news is once they’re there, they’re there to stay. Plastic can take thousands of years to decompose. Your tossed-out cartridge is going to slowly leak chemicals into the earth for quite a long time. Worse, if these printer cartridges burn to make more room for landfills. They release toxic, cancerous gasses into the air. Which directly affects our health as well as the planet.
Why Recycling Your Printer Cartridges is So Important
Even the smallest moves can make an impact. Recycling used printer cartridges may not seem to be a big step, but over time, it makes a massive difference in the amount of waste left to rot in landfills. Besides reducing e-waste, you can save a lot of natural resources from the manufacturing process when you recycle old printer cartridges. Think of how much work needs to go into making your ink or toner cartridge. The physical cartridge needs to be molded to your printer’s exact specifications. From there, it needs to be passed off to another machine to be filled with the correct materials, cleaned, sealed, and reshipped. Recycling the cartridge removes several steps from this process, lowering the amount of paper, aluminum, and plastic.
How You Can Easily Recycle Your Cartridges
Want to start feeling good about what you do for the environment? We’ve got great news for you: it won’t cost you an arm and a leg to recycle your used printer cartridges! Vegas Ink and Toner recycle used cartridges for free. If you’re already one of our happy clients, simply give us your used cartridges during the next service appointment. Not a customer? Not a problem! You can drop off any old cartridges at no cost or have us come pick them up for a small $15 fee. By making this small change to your printing habits, you can save money, the environment, and production materials! For more common printing and other related tips, please contact Vegas Ink and Toner.
