You will surely take advantage of opportunities such as free inkjet cartridge recycling. Adding the word “free” to this type of business may somehow attract you to involve yourself in this challenge. Will choosing these methods help you save tons of money for your printer ink cartridge replacement?

Different printer brands introduced their respective concepts on free inkjet cartridge recycling. Each is suited not only to your requirements as patrons. These programs are geared to saving the environment as well. Before you even answer the question on hidden costs attached to free inkjet cartridge recycling, you should also learn about the efforts pushed by printer companies.

Free Inkjet Cartridge Recycling for Popular Printer Brands

Four product brands have launched efforts to pursue the free printer ink recycling. These companies are Epson, Canon, HP and Lexmark. Look into how each company devised their free recycling concerns.

1. Epson. Epson’s free recycling program for its consumers was established in consonance with Funding Factory. Businesses and educational institutions are encouraged to collect empty printer ink cartridges and remit it back to the company. Cartridges are incinerated through environment-friendly means.

2. Canon. Numerous options were offered by Canon to its customers. Single empty cartridges may be returned directly to the company. Others may also opt for multiple cartridge returns of up to eight cartridges while businesses are also encouraged to return toner cartridges in bulk. Shipping labels can be downloaded from Canon’s website. Printer ink cartridge recycling is yet to be seen from the company.

3. HP. In 2003 alone, HP proudly claims that there have been 1.8 million cartridges recycled by the company. Some of the plastics and metals coming out of these ink cartridges were made to manufacture new products in the market too. There are those that are used to promote environmental concerns as well as help in energy generation.

4. Lexmark. Lexmark’s free inkjet cartridge recycling concept is done in association with companies worldwide. The offer is supported by Close the Loop and Planet Ark in Australia as well as other recycling programs in Latin America, South Africa and Europe. Lexmark also pays for the postage of the purchase and the return of the printer ink cartridge for their consumers.

What Are The Hidden Costs Of This Inkjet Cartridge Recycling Methods?

All of these companies proved to give their own share to save the environment. This is manifested through their respective versions of the free inkjet cartridge recycling program. However, to some extent there are some hidden costs to this agenda.

Try to think of how many cartridges a business or an institution needs to collect before they gain the benefit of the free recycling agenda. Perhaps, you may have to purchase at least 5 to 10 ink cartridges before you return them to the company. This means that you are spending more on the purchase instead of having the cartridges refilled all at once at a cheaper price offered by remanufacturing companies.

To some extent too, you are not sure where all the parts of these ink cartridges are going. You cannot avoid thinking if they do serve the purposes on saving the environment. But of course, different product brands have their own ways to convince you that you are getting the benefit from the free printer ink cartridge programs.

This Article is written by John C Arkin, contributor of Office Supplies Information & Resources.

Tags: canon, Epson, hp, ink cartridge, inkjet, inkjet cartridge, labels, lexmark, printer brands, printer companies, printer ink cartridges, Recycling, saving the environment, toner cartridges | Category: Recycling | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL