Staples Recycles Epson and Canon Printer Cartridges and Gives Coupons for It... Again...

[Doc]

Ancient threads on the subject:

http://forums.dealmac.com/read.php?9,2616611,2617622

http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1,296889,297286

...

I was at Staples today to get a replacement ink cartridge for a friend's printer where a sales girl mentioned that they had ink cartridge recycling.

I told her that none of my printers qualify and that Staples had alienated me and lots of other potential customers by ending their recycling program for all but the HP and Lexmark/Dell cartridges (which they get kickbacks for).

She told me that they've accepted Epson cartridges for recycling for a couple of years and pointed me to a sign by their service counter that described their recycling program and promised $2 coupons for recycling any inkjet cartridges regardless of manufacturer.

I was a little taken aback by this as I had just been to another Staples closer to home where they certainly did have the no-Epson-cartridges policy and I told her this. She said that it's a company-wide policy and insisted that I was misinformed...

So I got home and looked it up.

It's company-wide, alright. As of February 1st, 2009.

So, good news everyone! Staples no longer has that slimy insulting half-assed recycling policy anymore!

I'm going to complain to the manager of my Staples store about his people telling customers that they can't recycle Epson cartridges. Staples needs to better-educate some of their employees!

[Gareth]

The sad part is that up until this month, it was $3/cartridge. I was recycling everything I had, Brother, HP, Xerox, etc.

[jdc]

Gareth wrote:
The sad part is that up until this month, it was $3/cartridge. I was recycling everything I had, Brother, HP, Xerox, etc.

huh, I always thought it was $2

and, fwiw, you dont get the cash right away, it comes later in check form.

[Doc]

jdc wrote:
huh, I always thought it was $2

No. It was $3 up until July 1st and now it's $2.

When they reinstituted the recycling program, they changed it from a $3 coupon to a $3 "Rewards" credit. Now it's a $2 rewards credit.

Honestly, I don't care all that much whether it's $2 or $3.

Their prices on ink are always at least $5 more than I pay at online stores and are often a few dollars over the suggested retail price so the little bit that they return for recycling is more a matter of mitigating the insult than negating it.

...and I feel bad throwing away cartridges so I'd probably bring them in for recycling with or without the money back. (But don't tell them that. )

[Mike Sellers]

Since I've been savings Epson carts for years and I grabbed some from others, I've gotten over $100 in Staples credit this year. Came in pretty handy.

[Grateful11]

Heck I thought the whole thing stopped and just threw away a Cyan and Magenta from my Workforce 610.