Printer Cartridges Alternative ways to recycle Recycle With E-Waste Nearly 2 billion printer cartridges are thrown into our landfills every year. Many ink cartridges can be refilled several times before their useful life is up. Have your empty printer cartridges refilled or purchase refilled cartridges at: Ink and Toner Cartridge Drop-off Locations: We make every effort to keep this list up to date. If you find an accuracy. Please let us know. 831-420-5593 City of Santa Cruz: Dimeo Lane Resource Recovery Facility | 605 Dimeo Lane 831-420-6108 Surrounding Area: Grey Bears | 2710 Chanticleer Avenue, Santa Cruz 831-479-1055 Staples | 2460 17th Avenue, Santa Cruz- 831-477-9002 Participate in a Takeback Program Companies such as Staples, Xerox, Samsung and HP offer free takeback programs to recycle used printer cartridges. Alternative Ways to Recycle Sell to Cartridges for Kids If you are an administrator or teacher, or involved with a non-profit organization, Cartridges for Kids will pay for and recycle your used cartridges. They accept laser and inkjet cartridges, and they provide free labels. Quill.com Recycling Program Send your used cartridges to Quill.com’s ink and toner recycle program. Best Buy Ink and Toner Recycling Best Buy stores accept ink and toner cartridges for recycling. Find the nearest store. Staples Take Back Program Staples accepts ink and toner cartridges for recycling both online and at their store locations. Find out how to return cartridges to Staples. Ways to Reduce Buy Printers That Use Cartridge-Free Ink Some companies, like Xerox, now make printers that use cartridge-free solid ink, which creates up to 90% less waste and uses 30% less energy than cartridges. Leave Your Inkjet Printer On Leaving your printer on at all times will avoid starting an ink-wasting maintenance cycle. According to an interview Canon did with Consumer Reports, if you turn the printer off “it may do a longer clean.” Even though they are consuming energy when on, inkjets consume very little power when they’re not being used. Print in Draft Mode If you’re not working on something important, print in draft mode, which reduces the amount of ink that is used. Avoid Large Photos Large photos, especially those printed in high-quality mode, use up the most ink, so avoid printing those whenever possible. Choose Laser Printers for B&W It’s a good idea to use a laser printer for black and white printing jobs since laser printers don’t use maintenance ink and are great at printing out text. Did You Know? The Cheaper the Printer, the More Expensive the Ink It’s no secret that while you can get a printer for really cheap, the ink is really expensive, and it’s nearly impossible to get away with using an “unofficial” printer cartridge. This is no accident: printer companies like HP have argued that it’s costly for them to research and develop the ink. Consumer Reports and eBay have great articles on how to save money and buy eco-friendly printers, respectively. Your Printer May Be Wasting Ink