Ever wonder what happened to your printer cartridges when they are recycled? Earth911 has the answer! Leon Kaye took a tour of the Hewlett-Packard (HP) recycling facility and tells us what exactly goes on inside this normal looking building.
1. First, used cartridges are sent here in boxes and small envelopes, and are collected at the loading dock.
2. The cartridges are separated by model number. Ink is drained one at a time, and the foam previously containing the ink is sorted by color.
3. Next, the plastic is shredded and sent to a factory outside Montreal, Canada. The recycled cartridge plastic is mixed with PET plastic to create new printer cartridges.
"HP estimates that since the company started recycling its plastic cartridges, it has kept 511,000,000 objects out of landfills. Over 39,000,000 cartridges have been recycled."
Though it is not yet a closed loop system, costumers can continue to help by always properly disposing of their printer cartridges: bring them back to the store, mail them back to HP, whatever it takes to keep them out of the trash!
1. First, used cartridges are sent here in boxes and small envelopes, and are collected at the loading dock.
2. The cartridges are separated by model number. Ink is drained one at a time, and the foam previously containing the ink is sorted by color.
3. Next, the plastic is shredded and sent to a factory outside Montreal, Canada. The recycled cartridge plastic is mixed with PET plastic to create new printer cartridges.
"HP estimates that since the company started recycling its plastic cartridges, it has kept 511,000,000 objects out of landfills. Over 39,000,000 cartridges have been recycled."
Though it is not yet a closed loop system, costumers can continue to help by always properly disposing of their printer cartridges: bring them back to the store, mail them back to HP, whatever it takes to keep them out of the trash!
Photo credit: HP
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