Cash Through Trash
Have you ever noticed the prepaid cell phone and inkjet cartridge recycling envelopes available at non-profit organizations like your local zoo or museum? These fundraising tools provide a source of revenue while keeping millions of products out of landfills every year.
Recycling companies that specialize in collecting cartridges and cell phones by mail are an increasingly popular business model. In fact, Earth911′s listings for inkjet cartridges have grown by 11 percent since September 2008, with these mail-in programs contributing largely to their popularity and availability.
So why are cartridges one of the most commonly accepted recyclables by mail, and how do charities benefit from the process?
Don't waste valuable materials or an opportunity to help a local organization in need. Support a program in your town by recycling! Photo: HP.com
Cartridge Repair
Here are a few fun facts about your printer ink:
- It takes a gallon of oil to make one inkjet cartridge.
- We throw away approximately 13 cartridges every second.
- You can make up to $5 for recycling a single print cartridge (with the right program).
The primary use of these accepted cartridges is to remanufacture them, according to Brian Cahill, operations manager of The Recycling Factory. “We can remanufacture and sell these cartridges at up to 50 percent savings over brand-new cartridges,” he said. “The benefit to our customers is that they can give away waste at no cost and also earn money for charities.”
For The Recycling Factory, these charities include Habitat for Humanity and Boys Hope Girls Hope. Cartridges can be mailed in, using prepaid packaging, and customers decide whether to donate the money to any charity of their choice or receive a check. The Recycling Factory is actively seeking additional charities to work with in the U.S.
Because inkjet cartridges can only be refilled or remanufactured a certain number of times, The Recycling Factory will break down unusable cartridges to recover and recycle the metal and plastic. The company has a zero-landfill policy.
Steps for Success
While these programs makes sense for individuals looking to unload their cartridges and phones, the impact can be substantial for an organization using recycling as a fundraiser.
“This is a year-round opportunity, so it augments other fundraisers,” says Darcy Tucci, customer service manager for FundingFactory.com, which has about 30,000 schools and non-profit organizations that send in recyclables. “We’ve seen more and more charities come aboard in the last couple of years.”
This type of fundraiser is unique in that “donors” don’t support the organization through direct financial contributions.
“It is typically very easy to get supporters for this type of fundraiser because no one is asking for money or selling anything,” adds Tucci. “We also supply promotional materials to help them spread the word and have some organizations that send us a shipment each week.”
There is certainly no shortage of recycling options for cartridges and cell phones. But by recycling through the mail, you could help out a cause near to your heart.
As of June 17th 2011 we have upgraded our comment system to use Facebook comments.
The below comments are closed and are listed for historical purposes.
Al Lazz
posted on February 18th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
While all of this is very informative however not always practical.
I work with an IT department. We recycle toner and ink cartridges on a daily basis. Unfortunately the cartridge you send out to get refilled is not the one you get back therefore it winds up going to someone else and 9 out of 10 times youre going to get someone elses cartridge. Whats wrong with that? Well a lot of the cartridges we seem to get have a tiny pinhole damage and when we install it into the customer’s printer it leaves black marks on the paper. Not always noticeable at first until later. Sometimes we have to try about 3-4 refurbished/recycled cartridges before one actually works normally. There is no control as to trying to get your original cartridge back since its a government run facility that works with my government run jobsite. So this isnt always a practical option but if it works for you thats great!
As far as cellfones are concerned. Instead of having to surrender your cellfone somewhere for recycling they should bring back the option of creating generic phones that accept different Simms chips. So when you leave one phone network you can use your phone somewhere else. Apparently these companies want to mooch so much money off consumers and dont seem to care about recycling. So recycling really does need to come from big companies such as verizon, altell, and other such companies that make cellfones. People shouldnt have to give up their cellphones that they’ve shelled out so much cash for unless they lose their useability and cannot be repaired or are totally obsolete.
I would think if you help the consumer recycle by having big name companies “THINK Quality” and “Recycle and save money” the consumer will most likely come back to at least continue service with said company.
make sense?
thanks
Rori D.
posted on February 18th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
What Al Lazz said above makes a lot of sense! I recycle my cartridges all the time, but never knew that when they go to someone else, they aren’t always of the highest quality. That is unfortunate. Seems like those recycling them could come up with a better way so as to not have the little pinhole. Thanks for the information.
Nicole Myers
posted on February 20th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
so i can take 4 quarts of oil and dump it on a dry ink cartridge and add some carbon to it and send it somewhere and get paid thru the ethernet.
steve
posted on March 1st, 2009 at 6:55 am
I am getting into the recycling effort lately as i would like for my grandkids to have a healthy area to grow up and for the future. Are there recyclers out there who buy these things like plastic/aluminum/metal??? sure we are donating, but someone is selling all this free donations and making money..I need money as well and would rather sell..anyone know of a site where i can find some info..i would appreciate it.