Recycling keeps large amounts of plastics out of landfills, but every year over 300 million inkjet and toner cartridges are thrown away. This means for each toner cartridge, about 2.5 pounds of plastic is thrown into a landfill. It will never go away!

Recycling saves natural resources. To produce a single new laser cartridge, over 3 quarts of oil are used. In contrast, a recycled cartridge only requires 1 quart of oil to be able to be reused. Recycling saves two quarts of oil per cartridge. This year alone, toner cartridge remanufacturing will save over eleven million gallons of oil.

Locally, many school districts collect cartridges to generate revenue for student activities. Businesses that sell cell phones may also collect them for recycling. Or bring them to the Planning & Zoning Department at the St Croix County Government Center in Hudson. Cartridges collected by the county generate revenue that supports the St Croix County Environmental Education Fund which helps support environmental education activities in the schools.

No fax cartridges please, they can go in the trash.