How our Empty Cartridge Programme Works

Our aim is to help you to responsibly reuse or recycle 100% of your printer consumables, and to make as much money for our charities in the process.

For all your cartridges, whether they be ink cartridges, toner/laser cartridges, fax/photocopier cartridges, refilled, compatibles, originals or completely unused, you just need to use our quick and easy cartridge checker.

The Cartridge Recycling Process in Detail

Step 1. Use our online sending service to check your cartridges. You’ll need to have the cartridges with you, or know the model numbers that you use.

If any of your cartridges can raise funds for charities:

Step 2. Find a padded envelope to send your cartridges to us. Reusing a Jiffy bag or envelope helps the environment even more.

Step 3. Print our Freepost label and affix it to the front of the package.

Step 4. Put your cartridges in, and send with your normal post. It’s completely free for you, as we pay the postage.

Step 5. Your cartridges are received by us, and the vast majority are refilled and reused as ‘remanufactured’ or ‘compatible’ cartridges.

Step 6. Pat yourself on the back! You’ve helped:

  • our 3 charities — who each receive 1/3 of the proceeds of the money raised by selling on your empty cartridges
  • the environment — reusing your cartridges saves even more energy, CO2 and resources than just recycling
  • and consumers — who save money on their printing by buying these refilled cartridges.

For any of your cartridges that can’t raise funds for charities:

Step 2. Follow the useful instructions given on cartridge recycling schemes operated by other groups, which will be able to take these to recycle them. Many of these other projects operate a free service.

Step 3. Pat Yourself on the Back! Recycling is much better than the alternative: putting them in the bin.

If you have a mixture of cartridges that we can reuse, and some we can’t, please deal with them separately. If we took all cartridges regardless of their use, we wouldn’t be able to make any money for charities because of the costs in handling, treatment and disposal.

Get started now by using the quick and easy cartridge checker.