How Many Recycled Ink Cartridges Does it Take to Save a Turtle? CartridgesDirect Reports

CartridgesDirect recently calculated the ecological footprint of their ongoing printer cartridge recycling scheme, which has been in operation from 2018 to the present day.

The company’s internal recycling campaign report revealed that over the past seven years, their recycling scheme was able to save over 50,000 used printer cartridges from going directly to Australian landfills. This is the equivalent of 1.5 tons of landfill waste.

Using these figures and calculations for the amount of plastic waste produced by printer cartridges that end up trickling down into Australian waterways, CartridgesDirect was able to estimate that their recycling efforts have saved approximately 130 turtles over the past seven years.

Whilst CartridgesDirect celebrates the milestone of reaching a total of 50,000 recycled cartridges, the company also acknowledges that 130 turtles in seven years is "a drop in the ocean" when compared to the 1,000 turtles that die in Australian waters annually.

The online printer and print supplies retailer is urging other retailers and consumers to follow their lead and implement their own printer cartridge and plastic waste recycling initiatives.

From consumer waste to industrial debris, plastic pollution from all sources kills millions of animals each year, with marine life being particularly susceptible to the dangers of plastic netting, plastic packaging, and microplastics. As printer cartridges are manufactured using small plastic components, they pose a great risk to wildlife in Australia, both on land and in the country’s waterways.

For turtles in particular, CartridgesDirect’s research with partners at Cartridges4PlanetArk revealed that most sea turtles have ingested some level of plastic waste. Their report has also revealed that 1 in 2 turtles will die after ingesting up to 14 pieces of plastic.

The company’s report also revealed that 4% of all plastic waste produced in Australia ends up in the ocean each year. So even the plastic you’re tossing out with your curbside rubbish isn’t guaranteed to end up polluting our waterways and finding its way out into the open ocean.

Alongside the risks of plastic waste from printer cartridges becoming hazardous to wildlife, used printer cartridges in landfill result in wasted reusable materials like plastics and also precious metals from being disposed of prematurely.

Although printer cartridges are mainly constructed using plastic materials, their more technical components (like circuit boards, blades, and shutters) can include metals like stainless steel, silicon, tin, and zinc, just to name a few. There are even trace amounts of gold and palladium in circuit boards within printer cartridges. These materials can easily be retained and sent to printer manufacturers for reuse.

Manufacturers like HP are already integrating materials recycling initiatives into their internal production processes, with a stronger focus on using ethically sourced metals for manufacturing technical components, and even using post-consumer recycled plastic materials. These initiatives are being pioneered by manufacturers to support the development of circular economies or closed loop manufacturing across not only the global printing industry, but all other retail, manufacturing and fabrication industries.

CartridgesDirect outlined in their report that whilst they’re proud of the growing ecological impact of their printer cartridge recycling scheme, there is still much work to be done when it comes to cleaning up the global printing industry.

Whilst it’s true that one recycled ink cartridge won’t be enough to save a turtle, collective contribution to this mission can help strengthen its impact and ensure we’re better positioned to reduce pollution directly resulting from the printing industry.

CartridgesDirect prides themselves on partnering with sustainable manufacturers like HP and Canon, alongside supporting their consumers in integrating printer cartridge recycling as easily as possible to ensure their recycling scheme stays accessible.

Alongside supporting manufacturers, CartridgesDirect is also urging consumers to ‘use [their] consumer power to invest in the right suppliers', and that doing so will help printer users grow their own impact.

Global printing habits have been influenced by ongoing debates on the environmental impact of the home and office printing industry. More printer manufacturers are also prioritizing environmentally friendly production practices like using recycled materials and designing more efficient and less resource-intensive printing technologies, like HP’s Zink (Zero-ink) paper.

Similarly, more printer users worldwide are second-guessing their printing practices, opting instead for digital document processing over document printing. For environments like classrooms and offices, where document printing is still a routine task, however, taking measures to recycle your printer cartridges can help reduce your carbon footprint and curb emissions relating to your printing habits.

If you’d like to participate in CartridgesDirect’s printer cartridge recycling initiative to make your printing processes cleaner and greener, then you can read more about the initiative here. You can also gather more information on how to make your printing practices and your printer and ink more sustainable across our related articles here on Green Matters.