Just when you think you have everything figured out with your office recycling system, the company you work with takes your cartridges off their list of accepted cartridges for recycling. It’s a real frustrating occurrence, but not so unusual within the recycled toner cartridges world. This can be especially frustrating if you have been hoarding your Xerox toner cartridges for months in hopes of cashing out big or just making a larger mailing in one go, filling up a bag to send in or getting ready to drop them off at an office supply store. It’s the plain truth that not every cartridge that you use will be able to be recycled, so finding a solution to this pesky problem is essential.

The problem is that not all printers will accept recycled toner cartridges, making the process of collecting them and refilling them useless. Sometimes a printer goes off the market, meaning no one will buy the refilled cartridges, or a manufacturer says that the printer cannot use refilled cartridges, lowering the demand for the refilled ones. Or perhaps you have a less-expensive printer. Many of the cartridges are just not able to be refilled, which is the main reason why many companies offer toner recycling programs. If you have a less expensive sort of Laserjet toner cartridge or Konica-Minolta toner cartridge, you might have that experience of realizing that your toner cannot be recycled. It can be irritating, and you might wonder why this is the case, but the truth is that not all cartridges are made the same.

If you do find yourself with several cartridges that aren’t accepted for toner recycling programs, don’t just throw them away. That’s a terrible idea, and it doesn’t have to be the only way. Many companies will still take your cartridges that cannot be refilled and will recycle them on their own. Sometimes they charge you for this, sometimes it’s free if you send in other cartridges that can be recycled. If this is not a possibility, many communities will host an electronics recycling day for items like ink cartridges, old phones and office equipment, and computer parts. This is a great place to take your old cartridges that cannot be refilled. These types of drives generally happen a few times a year, so talk with your neighborhood to see what their recycling options are.

There are also recycling centers that will take your electronics at any time. For these services, you must go yourself to the center with your recycling. This can be a pain, but you can do this at any time. You’ll feel good when you know you kept a little more trash out of the dump.

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