Refill Your Ink Jet Cartridges to Save Big Money and the Environment

In addition to costing big bucks to purchase, the environmental impact of producing new inkjet cartridges is equally hefty.

Enter Cartridge World, the fastest growing toner and inkjet cartridge replacement franchise in the nation, according to Entrepreneur Magazine.

I made my first trip ever to my local Cartridge World to get my cyan inkjet cartridge refilled earlier this week. A new cyan cartridge for my Brother MFC-420cn would cost me $13.29 at Staples. What did it cost to refill it?

$6.50!

When Cartridge World advertises a savings of 50%, they're not just being generous...that's realistic.

Doesn't it make sense to have your inkjet cartridges refilled, rather than buy all new cartridges? After all, there's nothing wrong with the cartridge, it's just out of ink.

Is there a limit as to how many times an inkjet cartridge can be refilled...and what happens to it once it is no longer of use?

That's a great question. Cartridge World has a "Think Green" section of their website in which they address many of the environmental benefits of refilling and recycling your inkjet cartridges, in addition to providing additional facts and figures about the industry.

From Cartridge World:

Every cartridge is recycled and remanufactured and in the community that the Cartridge World store serves.

It takes about one gallon of oil to make a new laser cartridge.

Almost 8 cartridges are thrown away per second in the United States alone!

In North America alone, over 350 million cartridges per year are discarded in our landfills

A laser cartridge thrown into landfill can take up to 450 years to decompose. Some components made of industrial grade plastics will take over a thousand years to decompose.

Every remanufactured cartridge saves nearly 3 and 1/2 pounds of solid waste from being deposited in landfills

70 percent of used printer cartridges throughout the world are currently being thrown out.

In one year, if the world's discarded cartridges were stacked end-to-end, they would circle the earth over three times.

Regarding the above question of how many times an inkjet cartridge can be refilled, Cartridge World's FAQ page says:

"Typically we believe a black cartridge can be refilled about 6 or 7 times. This all depends on the type of cartridge and how well you take care of your cartridges. We test your cartridges after they have been refilled/re-manufactured, hence our 100% satisfaction guarantee."

On the FAQ page, the company also goes on to explain that using refilled and/or remanufactured ink cartridges will not void your printer's warranty, reduce your printer's efficiency/quality, and more.

In addition to being THE inkjet and laser toner cartridge refilling store, Cartridge World is a member of the EPA's WasteWise Program.

If you're looking for a Cartridge World store near you, click here and type in your zip. If you're in or around the Hermitage, TN area, stop in to the store on OHB in the shopping center with O'Charley's and Panera Bread, across from Summit Hospital. Be sure to talk to the store owner, a very nice and helpful gentleman named Barry Bean...and tell him Jeffrey from The Fun Times Guide to Living Green sent ya.

Oh, and Cartridge world isn't just the ink cartridge refilling solution for your home computing, they also have a myriad of business solutions to refill all those costly laser toner cartridges as well!