Applying the Bottle Bill to Ink Cartridges and Laser Toner

While I really hate to put the burden on consumers, I'm wondering if it's time that we take a serious step in the preservation of the environment. We have a bottle bill in many US states which adds $.05 or $.10 to the price of every can and bottle purchased - and this money is recovered when the empty bottle or can is returned. These beverage container deposit laws are intended to encourage consumers to recycle. Why not do the same thing with inkjet cartridges and laser toner? We could levy a $1 (or some other amount) surcharge on them that you can recover when you dispose of it properly.

Each year, millions of empty toner and ink cartridges are thrown into the trash, ending up in our planet's landfills or incinerators. Recycling these empty cartridges and making them part of a bottle bill like law would be easy, profitable and environmentally beneficial. It would help reduce solid waste, conserve raw materials and the energy needed to produce a new product. Most cartridges can be recycled up to six times - they are refurbished, refilled and then resold to consumers at a lower price than brand name cartridges. Ink cartridges are constructed out of plastic, petroleum-based products and take about 1,000 years to decompose. According to recent estimates, 20-40% of ink cartridges are recycled, meaning 60-80% end up in landfills. The recovery and reuse of empty printer cartridges diverts millions of cubic feet of material from waste disposal, saving us the millions of tax dollars needed to pay for additional landfill management.