Printer Cartridges are a Wicked Waste!

Australians discard over 18 million used printer and toner cartridges each year, which equates to 5000 tonnes of landfill which could be recycled; so for September, Maitland City Council, as part of the Wicked Wastes campaign, in conjunction with ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’, are encouraging all residents to remember to recycle printer cartridges and help keep our local environment clean and safe for generations to come.

Printer cartridges are composed of plastics, metals, foam, ink and toner, all of which is a waste of resources if they are thrown into landfills. Recycling printer cartridges keeps ink and toner from polluting the waterways surrounding landfills as well as reducing the space occupied in landfills.

The recovery of  the materials used in the manufacture of printer cartridges such as, steel, aluminium, plastics, foam, ink and toner not only reduces waste to landfill but by remanufacturing the components of printer cartridges we reduce the resource drain and the amount of energy required to manufacture from scratch.

The recovered metals from printer cartridges can be remanufactured into white goods and the plastics, ink and toner can be remanufactured into unique wood-substitutes. The reuse of material from recycling reduces the energy required to manufacture from raw materials, reduces the demand for finite resources and reduces the production of green house gases.

Over 9 million printer cartridges have been recycled and kept from landfills around Australia since Cartridges 4 Planet Ark started its campaign in 2003. Cartridge 4 Planet Ark recycling bins are to be found at most Australia Post outlets, Dick Smith Electronics, Tandy, Officeworks and Harvey Norman stores.

To find your nearest retail drop off location please visit cartridge.planetark.org or call the ‘Cartridge 4 Planet Ark’ Hotline on 1800 24 24 73.

Maitland City Council and the Hunter Waste Educators Group are promoting the correct disposal method for one of the ‘7 wicked wastes’ each month.