Finding out what to do with your old cartridges, printers and mobile phones can be a headache. In truth, there are many different options available for each of these classes of electrical item, with differing benefits. We help you to work out which will work best for you.
Your empty cartridges may be able to help good causes, by being sold to companies that refill them to make 'remanufactured' cartridges.
Even if your empty cartridges don't have sufficient market value to be refilled/reused, there are many — often free — recycling services you can use.
Unused cartridges can go through secondary channels to be used as they were intended — as full cartridges!
This is a much better use of resources than refilling them or recycling them when they are still usable.
Printers are highly specialised pieces of electronics that require large amounts of labour, energy and CO2 to create and distribute.
If possible, it's best for these to be reused, or to be responsibly recycled if they have reached the end of their life.
Mobile Phones are being upgraded so often now that there are plenty of unwanted phones to deal with. They contain precious metals, and toxic chemicals which can leak into the water supply if simply binned.
If possible, it's best for them to be reused as phones, and recycled if that's not possible.