Printer Recycling Guide

Got a new printer? Has your old printer broken down? There are many ways to recycle your old printer with the environment in mind, and we've put together this guide to help you find the solution for you.

⚠️ Got Cartridges Too? If you have full and unused cartridges for your old printer that are still sealed in their unopened packaging — send these to raise funds for good causes.

Reuse Unused Cartridges

If any cartridges are empty, recycle those cartridges separately if you're giving away the printer — or if you're recycling the printer, just send the cartridges with it.

Recycle Empty Cartridges

If any cartridges have been part-used they can be passed along with the printer to the new owner as a bonus, or be recycled as empties.

Sell It

If your printer is still working and in good condition, or could be easily repaired, you might like to try selling it.

If you want to raise funds for a good cause from your printer, this is the best way to do it as you can pass on the cash value to the charity and add Gift Aid (effectively increasing your donation by 25%) too.

eBay will help you find the biggest range of interested parties. It allows you to offer it locally for collection, or UK-wide if you factor in the cost of postage. When you list an item you can also choose to donate a %ge of the sale to a charity of your choice, which is shown on the listing.

List on eBay

For another local option try Gumtree — the customer will pick it up from you, or you can drop it off to them.

List on Gumtree

If you have a larger number of printers, or a more expensive modern office printer, we suggest you try specialist IT recyclers and printer services companies who may be able to buy them from you.

Donate or Give Away

If your printer is working, but you don't want to sell it, we suggest listing your unwanted printer on these sites, and enable good causes or individuals nearby to get in touch with you to take it off your hands and give it more years of life!

Facebook Marketplace
Donate a PC — lists computers and equipment for local good causes to collect
Gumtree — you can list your printer for free instead of asking for money
Freecycle — find the group near your city and list your printer
Freegle — similar to Freecycle

Broken? Repair It!

If your printer is broken, you can try repairing it yourself, if you fancy getting a little creative.

Try iFixIt for free access to service guides, repair instructions and more for all kinds of electricals.

Visit iFixIt

Council Recycling

Civic amenity sites run by your local council will take small electrical items like printers free of charge from private individuals.

You can also return any small electricals to Currys / PC World stores, and many O2 stores, free of charge for recycling — even if you didn't buy the item there!

Use the RecycleNow locator to find council, PC World and O2 (and other) sites using your postcode!

Search with RecycleNow

A few local authorities also take small electronics in roadside recycling collections, but you should double-check with your council first!

Commercial Recycling

If you have a large number of printers, or they're from commercial use, you'll need to find a commercial recycler to take care of your environmental and legal obligations, as printers are considered regulated waste electronics.

If your printers were supplied as part of an ongoing contract with your supplier, you should contact them as this may be included in your contract already, or they will offer this for a fee.

There are many IT recycling companies who provide printer recycling services for a fee and will take care of everything for you.

Find Local Services

Why Recycle Printers?

Printers are highly developed and specialised pieces of equipment that require large amounts of energy, labour and CO₂ to create and distribute.

If at all possible, it's best for a printer to go on being used, and because of the replaceable nature of the printheads in most printers they can go on working for 10 years or more.

Sometimes used printers have a market value that you can recoup or donate to a charity of your choice by selling it.

Recycling is a last resort if reuse is not possible. In landfill, the plastics will take up to 1,000 years to degrade, and any precious metals will be unavailable.

everycartridge.com is here to help you find a way to reuse or recycle your printer and ensure it doesn't end up in the bin.