We are proud supporters of our environment by recharging and remanufacturing cartridges our clients bring to us. Our belief is by using ink replacement; we put less stress on the environment by reducing the amount of cartridges that are disposed of.

According to current statistics, only 5% of empty printer cartridges are being recycled this means that 95% of these items are simply discarded and end up in landfill sites.

More than 300 million ink cartridges on average are sold within the U.S. every year. More than 250 million are never collected for any form of recycling. It takes 2 ½ ounces of oil to make a new inkjet cartridge and the plastics used in printer cartridges can take over 1000 years to decompose. Industry analysts estimate that an ink or toner cartridge can be reused between 4 and 7 times in some cases indefinitely.

Toxicity

• Two and a half ounces of oil are used for every ink jet cartridge produced.

• Three and a half quarts of oil are used for every laser cartridge produced.

• Each laser printer cartridge, on average, consists of approximately 2 1/2 pounds of plastic - primarily acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) - along with steel, aluminum, and rubber.

• Manufacturing each printer cartridge requires approximately three quarts of petroleum to power the manufacturing process that converts oil and natural gas to plastic.

• Each cartridge contains petroleum as "embedded" energy (i.e. the fuel value of the plastic itself). It takes the energy equivalent of approximately one-half gallon of oil to make one 2 1/2 pound cartridge.

• A new laser cartridge uses an average 3 quarts of oil to produce and adds 2.5 pounds of industrial grade plastic to the waste stream.

Current Recycling

• By some estimates, nearly eight ink and toner cartridges are thrown away in the U.S. every second. [= approx 240 Million per year]

• Industry analysts estimate that a spent ink and toner cartridge can be reused between four and seven times.

• Over 86% of all inkjet cartridges sold in this country are thrown away according to industry statistics. Laser cartridge recycling is a very large industry employing thousands of people and yet over 50% of the cartridges are still deposited in landfills every year. This translates to 350 million cartridges that end up in landfills or approximately 875 million pounds of environmental waste.

• Stacked end to end, these discarded printer cartridges would cover a distance of over 24,000 miles -- enough to circle the earth!

• Half a gallon of oil is conserved for every laser cartridge returned. With the United States consuming approximately 700 million gallons of oil a day, we are helping to conserve a valuable natural resource and reduce greenhouse emissions. Remember: oil is a nonrenewable fossil fuel, and it can not be remade.

• In the next seven years, if all the laser and ink jet cartridges are saved from landfills, a bridge can be built from the Earth to the Moon -- 223,000 miles!