Free Toner Cartridge Collections

It used to be relatively easy to find a service that would collect your office's toner cartridges for free, and probably give some money to a charity as well.

Unfortunately, the market value of empty cartridges has continually declined over the last 15 years, and these are typically seen as a burden rather than a benefit now — the costs of collecting have increased too, many companies in this space have become insolvent or merged, and Brexit brings additional costs for any companies who might export empties for recycling.

⚠️ Got any full / unused cartridges?

If you have full & unused cartridges still sealed in their packaging that were made by your original printer manufacturer, do not recycle them as empties — try our full cartridge guide instead:

Recycle Full Cartridges

This will raise much more for good causes, and your full cartridges are used as they were intended instead of just recycled as empties.

Recycling Your Empties

We are only aware now of two options that you can make use of.

Help Prevent Malaria: Cartridges4Charity

Supports The Against Malaria Foundation, who distribute anti-mosquito nets to save lives by preventing the spread of malaria.

You will be eligible for a free collection if you have at least 15 toner cartridges per parcel that are genuine versions made by original printer manufacturers (and not the compatible variety) and the specific models have enough value to cover costs and raise funds.

Recycle With Cartridges4Charity

You will need to list your items' model numbers to check if they are eligible for the service.

If Cartridges4Charity are unable to take your toners for a free collection, it's highly unlikely any charity will be able to benefit to any meaningful extent from your cartridges.

Free Bulk Collection Services

If you use a lot of the larger toner cartridges, Revialis (who operated Staples' free collection programme) collect a minimum of 15 items free of charge.

You must return your cartridges in the cardboard boxes they provide (for free) and you must not send any toner bottles / cassettes / waste toner containers, or fusers, drums, imaging units or other electronics.

Viking offered a similar programme if you ordered their empty toner collection boxes - contact [email protected] if you are a Viking customer and wish to have your box collected.

Not found a good solution here?

Try the other options in our main empty cartridge recycling guide instead — you may be able to return to your manufacturer, find a local drop-off service, or make use of a paid-for recycling service.

Please do not bin your cartridges in any circumstances — they will take thousands of years to decompose in landfill, and if you are a business you have a legal obligation to have your waste treated and disposed of appropriately.

Why Recycle Empty Cartridges?

75% of empty cartridges in the UK are not recycled even though there are plenty of reuse and recycling options, and many of them are free and easy to use.

A typical cartridge, with its plastics and electronics, will take up to 1,000 years to degrade in a landfill site, but having an empty cartridge reused saves up to 2.5kg of CO₂ compared to making a new cartridge from scratch.

everycartridge.com is here to help you to find and use the many services that exist locally and nationwide, and cut through the misinformation to ensure that your cartridges do not go to landfill.