Recycling Facts

Cartridges

• Approximately 1.2 trillion inkjet cartridges are used around the world annually and less than 30 percent are currently being recycled. It takes about a gallon of oil to produce every new toner/laser cartridge.
• In one year, if the world’s discarded cartridges were stacked end-to-end, they would circle the earth over three times.
• Over 500 million inkjet cartridges and 70 million laser cartridges are sold in the U.S. annually. Every year over 400 million cartridges with a combined weight of 200 million pounds are buried in our nation's landfills. Thirteen ink cartridges are thrown away every second in the U.S.
• Every remanufactured laser cartridge saves nearly 2.5 pounds of metal & plastic waste from being deposited in landfills. Toner cartridge remanufacturing saves over 38,000 tons of plastic and metal from 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.

Cell Phones

• Most phones are used an average of 18 months before being replaced. More than 150 million cell phones are replaced annually, accounting for a staggering 65,000 tons of e-waste. Before being disposed of, many will be stashed in homes and offices, creating a stockpile of roughly 500 million wireless phones.

iPods/MP3 Players

• Did you know iPods are designed to be disposable? After 13 months of heavy use, the lithium-ion battery of these digital music players can lose more than half of its functionality.

Laptop Computers

• The EPA estimates 29.9 million desktops and 12 million laptops were discarded in 2007. That’s over 112,000 computers discarded per day!
• 68% of consumers store used or unwanted computer equipment in their homes. Close to 235 million e-waste items were placed in storage because people don't know what to do with them!