It's not a big secret that printing isn't good for the environment. Whether you're looking at the trees that must be cut down to make the paper or the ink itself, each page you print has an impact. One that we tend to overlook, however, is the effect of all those ink and toner cartridges, but in reality they're incredibly wasteful. They're made from petroleum-draining plastic and usually get only one use. The best solution is to buy remanufactured toner and ink cartridges, which keep approximately 5.5 pounds of plastic out of landfills for every one sold. Because significantly less energy is needed for remanufactured cartridges (80% less than creating a new cartridge), you're reducing the environmental impact of your ink in several ways. Remanufactured cartridges can also provide serious savings over picking up a new package of ink or toner. Find your favorite inks and toners---in remanufactured cartridges---from Office Depot, Lexmark and Xerox below.
The process of reconditioning products to sound working condition. For example, remanufacturing one toner cartridge keeps an average of two and a half kilograms of plastic out of landfills. Also since up to 80% less energy is required to remanufacture cartridges (versus creating new ones) overall green house gas emissions are significantly reduced as well.
Recycling is the reprocessing of old materials into new products, with the aims of preventing the waste of potentially useful materials, reducing the consumption of fresh raw materials, reducing energy usage, reducing air (from incineration) and water (from landfilling) pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions as compared to virgin production.