Environmentalists advocate three basic rules: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Some 500 million toner cartridges are shipped to end-users worldwide.

A solution for the disposal of these waste cartridges before it becomes a target for environmentalists and possible government regulation. While partial solutions abound, none of them—incineration, landfill, or recycling—completely solves the problem.

Reuse and Remanufacturing: Greatest carbon avoidance potential.

Responsible Recycling: Material recycling cuts landfill waste, reduces the overall carbon footprint of a cartridge, and helps alleviate depletion of virgin raw materials. Break down and recycle all cartridge materials, at its ultimate end-of-life in order to avoid offsetting the benefits of reuse. Environmental Hierarchy of Toner Cartridges – Best to Worst: Most Desirable, Reuse and Remanufacturing, Material Recycling, Waste to Energy Conversion, Least Desirable: Landfill deposit, Incineration

CARTRIDGE COMPONENTS

Pictures from left to right: packaging material from one laser printer cartridge, plastic components in laser printer cartridge, all metal parts from one cartridge.

Most toner cartridges are comprised of at least three different plastics: polypropylene, styrene-butadiene, and ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene). In addition, a minor amount of nylon and certain acetal resins are found in the gears that drive these assemblies.

INCINERATION

There was a time, many years ago, when burning was the common solution to trash disposal. Up until the mid-1900s or thereabouts, many homes had an incinerator in the backyard. That practice was eventually outlawed as it brought fire dangerously close to every home, the smoke was a neighborhood nuisance, and the public became more concerned with air quality and the toxic substances those incinerators were capable of discharging.
Today, commercial and industrial incinerators are the subject of contention, controversy and close regulation. Environmental groups have succeeded in having laws enacted that govern what can and cannot be burned. Global warming is a major issue driving the battle against carbon dioxide generation. In compliance with the necessary controls, instruments and equipment, operating incinerators now charge a fee for the disposal of acceptable trash that is typically from $25 to $40 per short ton (2,000 pounds).
Combustion of waste materials as a fuel, however, creates energy in a state-of-the-art incinerator at a time when oil prices are soaring and alternative fuels are being sought. Also, if the effluent stack gases are passed through a scrubbing tower, incineration serves as a safe, efficient means of waste disposal.
If a sustained waste stream is of sufficient volume, if the material has a reasonably high heating value (coal, for example is rated between 8,000 and 16,000 Btu/lb. compared to wood at 6,500, and hydrogen at 61,100 Btu/lb.), and if the combustion products are non-toxic, the waste becomes valuable as a fuel for energy generation. If these conditions are satisfied, it is possible to negotiate disposal under attractive economic terms, such as swapping fuel for electrical energy from a nearby power plant.
Incineration of waste toner by a power plant is a rare but viable solution, especially if the plant is nearby, coal-fired, and equipped with slurry-fed burners. These devices consume a slurry of finely pulverized coal suspended in water—a feedstock that can easily be combined with waste toner.
Today, incineration using state-of-the-art burners, effective stack gas scrubbers and effluent monitoring instruments and controls is the most desirable solution for waste management.
Incineration creates steam for electricity to power homes, business and factories, and for space heating. While incineration is also an important solution to waste disposal in China and India, effluent monitoring and control seriously lags US and European standards, we have been told.

LANDFILL

Environmentally speaking, dumping and burying waste in landfills is the least desirable means of waste management. It creates the risk of ground water pollution, and in the case of toner and ink jet cartridges, the waste material does not readily decompose. A closed landfill may be deemed unsuitable for construction, farming, or recreation for as long as 50 years!
For many independent rechargers, sending end-of-life cartridges to a landfill is an undesirable solution to freeing up plant and warehouse space. Rates are still reasonable, but the stigma of compromising the land does not sit well with any responsible citizen.
In Southern California, solid waste disposal rates range from about $25 to $60 per short ton (2,000 pounds), or about 3.5 to 9.0 cents per cartridge.
A common practice is moving waste from state to state, but new laws will likely ban shipping waste across state lines to a more receptive location.

REGULATION AHEAD?

What is looming on the horizon is regulation, rules that are similar to what is already in place for electronic waste. This means a periodic waste material balance around each plant operation. Documents will likely be required to show the input, out-put and accumulation of waste plastic, cardboard, and metallic materials at each installation.
In European Union countries, tight recycling and waste stream regulations are in place. In some American states, such as California, there are laws that ban the dumping into landfills of electronic waste materials, household appliances, consumer electronics and batteries.

A SOLUTION FOR ALL

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