How should I dispose of my printer cartridges?

Staples will give you $2 in Staples reward checks for each cartridge.

Office Max will give you $3 in reward checks.

And they recycle them.

@Pied_Pfeffer Well, they at least refill them and sell them again. For what that’s worth…

Staples, Office Depot and Best Buy all have recycling programs. HP used to have a mail-back program for their toner cartridges, but I don’t know if they still do.

Here is a way to do this directly through Canon. However, if Staples and Office Max are willing to give you reward checks, and you will use said checks, I would opt for that route!

@majorrich – I just recycled two cartridges through HP a couple of months ago.

Donate them to a school that turns them in for the money.

I’m now very curious about the greenest way to handle used cartridges and just sent an e-mail to Ed Begley, Jr.‘s web site. If anyone is interested, I’ll let you know if I hear back and what the response is.

Yeah, please post.

UPDATE: As promised, here is the response from Ed Begley, Jr. (or someone on managing his site)...

__Dear Mr. Begley, Some friends and I are having a debate on what is the greenest way to replace/refill computer printer ink cartridges. Other than to not have a printer at all, is it to: 1. Refill the cartridges yourself 2. Take them to a local store, like Staples or Office Depot, that offers a rebate and supposedly recycles them 3. Send them back to the manufacturer (such as Canon or HP) Your assistance would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Lisa__

Lisa – I’ve never had any luck with the quality of ink from the refill kits. I usually buy a new one (I have laser) and send the old cartridge back in the return container provided in the new package. That has been the way I’ve done it for quite some time now.
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