Over 2/3rds of empty printer cartridges in the UK are simply thrown away instead of being recycled. A typical cartridge, with its plastics and electronics, will take up to 1,000 years to degrade in a landfill site.
This is a sorry state of affairs. Our service offers 2 simple benefits to counteract this, and we hope you'll join us in our mission to improve the environment one cartridge at a time.
You can recycle your cartridges in many places, but CartridgeForest takes things a step further by reusing your empty cartridges — we find new homes for them with people who have the right kind of printer which means one fewer has to be produced taking less energy and resources — instead of merely recycling them — where the materials like plastics and toner are broken down to form recycled products which uses quite a lot of energy.
Reuse saves up to 2.5kg of CO2 compared to the manufacture of a cartridge from scratch, and helps people to find a cheaper alternative to the manufacturer's original cartridges.
We plant a tree with Trees for the Future on your behalf for every reusable cartridge we receive — and we've planted over 137,000 so far.
Each tree absorbs 180kg of CO2 on average over its lifetime — that's the equivalent of taking a flight from Washington DC to Charlotte, NC.
By recycling your cartridges with us, and encouraging your friends to do the same, you'll soon have completely offset the carbon footprint of your printing.
Recycle for free now — all types of cartridges, mobile phones — help us plant trees, save waste from landfill, and reverse your printing carbon footprint! If we can't use your items to plant trees, we'll help you find a free alternative.
Not ready yet? Register as a recycler so we can keep in touch. You get occasional email updates on sustainable printing, our charity impact, and you'll be reminded to recycle!
Sign In to access an existing account.
Register as a supporter to get occasional email updates on sustainable printing, our charity impact, and you'll be reminded to recycle!