Recycle Laser-Printer Cartridges?

[mrlynn]

Used to be, I sent my used printer carts back to the guy I buy them from (Cartridge Recycling Technologies, Greenland, NH), and Brett would send me rebuilt, refilled ones.

Now he says the cartridges are made so poorly that it's not worth rebuiding and refilling them, so the only option is to throw them in the trash.

Is that so? I'm accumulating a bunch of the things, because I hate to just add that much plastic and metal to the landfills.

Are there other options?

/Mr Lynn

[Carm]

What is the printer model? Search ebay for refills or take to a local OfficeDepot/Staples for a 3 off coupon or a free ream of paper.

Carm

[vicrock]

We have a local business that does this - I get one day service on both the copy machine and the laser printer at work - they bring out a cartridge and pick up the empty - they even will do the replacement for me if I'm busy with something else.

And they haven't said anything about quitting business.

We have a deal with a company which recycles both laser and inkjet cartridges and gives our non-profit $1 per.

If you want info, pm me.

[AlphaDog]

[quote Carm]What is the printer model? Search ebay for refills or take to a local OfficeDepot/Staples for a 3 off coupon or a free ream of paper.

Carm
Ah, but only if the company who manufactured that particular cartridge participates in Office Depot's recycling program. I took a Canon in a week or two ago and the best they offered was to throw it in their trash instead of me having to take it back home and put it in mine. It seems not all cartridges are created equal, especially if they belong to me.

[mrlynn]

[quote vicrock]We have a local business that does this - I get one day service on both the copy machine and the laser printer at work - they bring out a cartridge and pick up the empty - they even will do the replacement for me if I'm busy with something else.

And they haven't said anything about quitting business. . .
I should be more clear about the term 'recycle'. Does this company actually refill and reuse the cartridges, or do they have some vendor which takes the old ones and separates the components—plastics, metals, etc.—and recycles those?

What my guy was telling me is that it wasn't cost-effective to reuse the cartridges any more. Failing that, component recycling is the next best thing—better than the dump.

/Mr Lynn

[Carm]

[quote AlphaDog]Ah, but only if the company who manufactured that particular cartridge participates in Office Depot's recycling program. I took a Canon in a week or two ago and the best they offered was to throw it in their trash instead of me having to take it back home and put it in mine. It seems not all cartridges are created equal, especially if they belong to me.
Yup, Both stores only accept cartridges with printheads attached now. I think both still take laser cartridges.

Carm

[davester]

You can do it yourself with this outfit. http://www.tonerrefillkits.com/ That's what I do. It takes almost no time at all to refill a cartridge.

[vicrock]

Mr Lynn - to the best of my knowledge, the company that gives the one day service does refill/remanufacture the cartridges.

The recycling fundraiser - no clue what they do with them

[GGD]

For Brother toner and drum cartridges, I recently found a page on their website where you can print return labels to ship the empty cartridges back to them for free. Not sure why they don't just include the labels in the refill boxes.

http://www.brother-usa.com/environment/default.aspx