Keeping Ink and Toner Cartridges Out of Landfills

Every single year millions of toner cartridges, inkjet cartridges, and other printer waste are thrown away into the trash from our homes, offices, and schools. The environmental impact of this is indescribably unnecessary. There are many easy and cost effective ways to reduce our toner cartridge waste. As consumers it is so important we make informed decisions about the things we buy and the effects of the way we dispose of them.

One of the easiest and most common sense ways to keep toner cartridge waste out of our landfills is to purchase compatible laser toners. These not only make sense in terms of cost effectiveness, they can be up to 60 percent cheaper than newly manufactured laser toners (OEM's). Compatible laser toners are made from recycled or reused cartridges can be reused up to four times. It takes approximately three quarts of oil to make one new cartridge. If each newly made cartridge was used all four times, a total of twelve quarts of oil could be saved. According to Recharger Magazine, in 1998 a total of 38,000 tons of municipal solid waste was reduced by the use of remanufactured or recycled cartridges.

There are a host of common sense approaches to keeping toner cartridges out of landfills that can be done everyday. Consider whether or not you actually need to make a hard copy of what you are printing. Often times it makes sense to leave a copy of what you were sent in your e-mail or to simply save it on your hard drive before printing it off and filing it away. When creating documents or spreadsheets, avoid using large blocked in areas or too many graphics. Simply toning down the flashiness of a plain printed document can save a great deal of waste. Using a smaller font can also be a great way to conserve on toner use and will also help to conserve paper waste. The fax machine can be one tricky area to conserve on toner cartridge. Consider eliminating a delivery confirmation print out, again reducing toner waste but also conserving paper as well. Another great way to reduce toner waste at the fax machine is to incorporate a fax modem program. This can immediately direct faxes straight to your computer eliminating the use of any toner whatsoever.

Laser Toners and other Ink Cartridges are great tools to many of us in our professional and personal lives. But their use comes to us at a great financial and, more importantly, environmental cost that we must not forget. As consumers we must be conscience of the consequences and our actions and fully aware of the options available. It is time to work together sensibly to keep toner cartridges out of our landfills; it is too easy and makes too much sense not to.