Do charity recycling envelopes still work?

Many of us have taken the opportunity to re-evaluate our relationship with the environment and the part we play in its stewardship.

Landfill has become a dirty word. Sorting out items for the weekly council recycling collections has become an acceptable household activity; in fact, if these collections were to stop for any reason there would probably be uproar.

This increased awareness of the need to recycle has extended to empty ink cartridges. However this desire has been hampered by not knowing where best to recycle them.

Many more people and businesses are looking to recycle ink cartridges. However, we believe that what has been the most popular method of recycling for many years - the charity recycling envelope - is no longer environmentally acceptable, or even the most efficient option for maximising financial returns.

The cost of the envelope

Sending a recycling envelope has a cost both environmentally and financially. Here are ten things you might like to consider:

• Posting an envelope has a negative impact on our carbon footprint
• Envelopes are flimsy and offer little protection - damaged ink cartridges are worthless
• Not all empty cartridges have a value - but someone still has to pay for that postage
• Many cartridges - when inside the envelope - won't fit through the postbox aperture
• You can't send large toner cartridges in an envelope - so there's an opportunity missed
• Most households probably have an envelope in a drawer - but never use it.
• Envelopes often do not support a local charity - a turn-off for many potential donors
• No personal contact - and a lost opportunity to raise awareness of the charity
• Difficult to measure the effectiveness of the scheme and therefore manage it
• If a charity is happy to put in very little effort and get very little in return - this method works fine!

In fact, we believe that the 'charity recycling envelope' has done its job, inasmuch as it has raised awareness of the potential for recycling empty ink cartridges. However, it should now be superseded by a smarter method of recycling that will be more efficient, benefit the environment and increase the funds raised for the charity or worthy cause.

And anyway, how absurd is it to have a system of recycling that produces lots of plastic envelopes criss-crossing the country in the post when most of them potentially contain worthless cartridges.

The Solution

We believe the answer is for ink recycling to become local. Or more precisely, local collections and local sorting by a local specialist ink recycling company.

With more efficient handling over a smaller geographic area, economies of scale and access to specialist knowledge, this will increase a charity's revenue stream as well as potentially increase the engagement of people and businesses looking to recycle.

And when it comes to businesses, if the local ink recycling company also meets the latest government legislation for waste handling and disposal and can issue Waste Transfer Notes, then many businesses will be encouraged to recycle as they should see the scheme as meeting the requirements of their own environmental management system, possibly based on ISO14001 or BS8555.

It's certainly time to get smarter with our recycling effort, and especially when it comes to ink cartridges.

This article has been published by Village Ink who are a specialist ink recycling company based in Swindon, and are currently helping the Swindon & District Samaritans to improve the revenue stream from donated ink cartridges.