quality and reliability
Customer service - FAQ
Will it cost me anything?
No. You can request materials through our online form or call us freephone on 0800 435576 (only in the UK).
Why Should We Recycle?
You wouldn't throw away your printer just because it ran out of paper; you certainly wouldn't throw away your car because you run out of petrol. So why throw away a perfectly good print cartridge just because it runs out of toner or ink? We can recycle all sorts of ink and toner cartridges. Recycling reduces the amount of landfill waste and reduces the amount of raw materials needed to produce new products. In the UK alone over 8 million printer toner cartridges were sold in 1999; 50% are disposed of as waste; the majority for landfill. 65 million inkjets were sold in the UK in 1999, less than 10% were recycled.
How Much Is Thrown Away?
During 1999 in excess of 65 million inkjet printer cartridges and over 8 million laser printer cartridges were consumed in the United Kingdom. It is estimated that over 90% of these cartridges were thrown away when empty.
Around 700 million cartridges were thrown away world-wide in 2003.
What Is The Environmental Saving?
The recovery and reuse of toner and inkjet cartridges reduces landfill by millions of cubic feet of non-biodegradable material. Laser toner cartridges disposed of each year in the UK account for as much as 15,000 tons of waste plastic and metal. (The plastic used in each printer cartridge is estimated to take 1,000 years to decompose.) In addition, each laser cartridge that is recycled conserves the equivalent of approximately 1 litre of oil.
Why Don't More Businesses Recycle?
EDUCATION: - The office products recycling industry is relatively new; just 15 years old. In the UK around 23% of all laser printer cartridges are recycled. A huge accomplishment in just 15 years.
What Happens To Products That Are Saved From Landfill?
We collect, check and grade all products and then prepare them for remanufacturing. Each component will be thoroughly checked and cleaned with any parts that are worn, likely to fail or that do fail, being identified for scrap recycling through quality control. The remaining parts will then be used to build the cartridge into a product meeting a level at least as good as the original new cartridge. The policy of replacing and upgrading worn components with parts that are often superior in quality and performance to those in a new cartridge ensure that the quality of a recycled cartridge is at least as good as a new one!
Am I really helping the environment by recycling cartridges?
Yes most definitely. Each discarded empty laser printer cartridge adds approximately 3lbs of unnecessary waste to our landfills.
Can I recycle laser toner cartridges?
Yes. If you support Tommy's, the baby charity, all you have to do is request some freepost labels by filling out our online form or by calling us on freephone 0800 435576 (only in the UK). Once you have received the labels, box up your empty toner cartridges, stick on the self adhesive label and post it off.
If you are supporting another charity then you can also call us on freephone 0800 435576 (only in the UK) to arrange a collection of minimum 10 laser toner cartridges.
Do you accept all kinds of cartridges?
Unfortunately not. See the list of cartridges we can recycle.
Do you recycle Epson inkjet cartridges?
Unfortunately not - because of the design nature of the Epson cartridges, it is actually far more cost effective to make compatible cartridges for the Epson cartridges than it is to recycle the originals. This is not unique to us, but the case for all recycling and remanufacturing companies. See the list of cartridges we can recycle.
I am running out of inkjet recycling bags, how can I obtain more?
To request more freepost recycling bags please contact our Customer Service department on 0800 435576 (only in the UK) or fill in our online form.
> This document was last modified: 10 October 2006
