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Recycling |
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Liquids |
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(Current Recycling Technology and Processes) |
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Ink / Toner Recycling Process (Page 1) |
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Many people might overlook the importance of ink cartridge recycling, but the positive results from recycling it are very apparent. According to Texas PTA, over 300 million cartridges are sold every year, with over 200 million of them ending up in landfills. If recycling was to be implemented to its maximum utility, 38,000 tons of cartridges could be used again. Finally, Texas PTA states that it takes "two and a half ounces of oil to produce one inkjet cartridge and three and a half quarts of oil to produce one laser jet cartridge. Half a gallon of oil is conserved for every laser cartridge is recycled." As we can observe, recycling ink cartridges does help us conserve the scarce natural resource of oil. It is also important to note that each toner cartridge contains a few bio-degradable materials that harm the environment. In this section, we will briefly cover the general process of cartridge recycling (not the processes of reusing the cartridges directly, but the process of breaking down all the components and reusing these components). The entire process can be summarized into 5 steps.
For a complete list of today's recyclable ink/toners, please visit our section, Current Recyclable Materials - Liquids. |
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Step 1: Used toner cartridges are collected and then sent to recovery sites to group them together
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Step 2: Toner cartridges are logged, opened, and the residual toner is put into containers or drums that can hold around 50 gallons of residual toner.
Step 3: When the containers or drums are filled up with residual toner, they are shipped to a steel manufacturer who uses this material as part of their steel production process.
Step 4: Whatever is left from the cartridge after the residual toner is removed is scrapped.
Step 5: Since cartridges are made of plastic, iron and aluminum parts, the scrap of cartridges will then go through the plastic and metal recycling process.
For further details on plastic recycling process, please visit our section Current Recycling Technology and Processes - Plastic.
For further details on metal recycling process, please visit our section Current Recycling Technology and Processes - Metal.
Figure: Toner recycling process.
[Courtesy of: Planet Ark.] |
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Figure: Toner recycling process.
[Courtesy of: Environmental Innovations.] |
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QUICK LINKS (Specific Table of Contents):
Section I: Introduction
Section II: Present (YOU ARE CURRENTLY IN THIS SECTION)
Section III: Future |
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Links: |
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Home
Complete Table of Contents
Reference |
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