Recyling Ink Cartridges

Recycling is a very important method for keeping the environment clean. The majority of people do not understand the significance of recycling used goods.

Each year over 375 million inkjet cartridges are thrown away worldwide, and 30 million of those in the UK alone. At present only 5% of all empty inkjet cartridges are being recycled.

Ink cartridge recycling also helps to lessen carbon based gas emissions, which is a serious cause of global warming.

You can help make a difference to the environment by making it a cleaner and better place by recycling your empty cartridges. At Office Green we supply an ink cartridge recycling service to both commercial and domestic customers.

We have the simplest and most recycling focused scheme. Our collection program enables you to send all of your printer cartridges back (not just the good ones). This ensures you comply with your own duty of care as well as offering you a variety of ways to be paid.

For more information please feel free to contact us at:

http://www.officegreen.co.uk

Recycling in the office

Companies that recycle in the office show that they are environmentally friendly and are thinking green. Normally, waste and recyclables will be kept separately to each other, for example, a bin for general waste, a bin for waste paper, and a bin for ink cartridges, etc.

The general items that an office will recycling include:

• Paper
• Printer cartridges
• Plastic coffee cups
• Computers
• IT Equipment
• Cardboard
• Packaging

All companies, may they be big or small must have a paper trail for their waste and are subject to an audit from the Environmental Agency at any given time; the paper trail is also a crucial part of ISO accreditation.

Here is how the paper trail works:

The company who generates the waste are defined as the waste/recycling producer. Generally they will have a waste or recycling collection company defined as the ‘carrier’; some collections companies only collect a single waste stream some collect a variety of streams, to be capable of legally collecting waste or recyclables the company must have a Waste Carriers License.

When the collection company (carrier) have collected from the office/factory the producer will be given a Waste Transfer Note to say what they have collected, this is the first part of the paper trail that the waste or recyclables will obtain on their route from company to collector to recycling plant to landfill and must be kept on record by all parties involved.

The collector will then collect a Waste Transfer Note from either the recycling plant or landfill site who they pass it onto that verifies that the waste has been either recycled or landfilled correctly and safely within the law.

For more information please feel free to contact us at:

http://www.officegreen.co.uk

Packaging symbols - Explained

-‘Widely Recycled’ means 75% of people have access to recycling facilities for these items.

‘Check locally’ means 20% - 75% of people have access to recycling facilities for these items.

‘Not recycled’ means less than 20% have access to recycling facilities for these items.

Here are the symbols for various different packaging items and how they are recycled, nevertheless, you should always follow the advice of your local council.

The Green Dot

The green dot does not necessarily mean that the packaging can be recycled. This symbol is used on packaging in numerous European countries and indicates that the producer has made a contribution towards the recycling of packaging.

Plastics

Indicates the type of plastic: PET and HDPE bottles are recycled by the majority of local authorities.

Glass

Please dispose of glass bottles and jars in a bottle bank (but remember to divide colours) alternatively you can use your kerbside collection if you have one.

Recyclable Aluminium

Can be taken to a aluminium recycling facility or placed in your kerbside collection.

Recyclable Steel

Can be taken to a steel recycling facility.

Mobius Loop

Shows that the item is capable of being recycled - not that the item has been recycled.

Mobius Loop with percentage

Shows the percentage of recycled material contained in the item.

Paper

When an item has the National Association of Paper Merchants mark, paper or board must be made from at least 75% genuine waste paper and/or board fibre, no part of which should contain mill produced waste fibre.

For more information please feel free to visit our website at:

http://www.officegreen.co.uk

April’s Featured Charity

Our featured charity for this month is the Disasters Emergency Committee's Syria Crisis Appeal.

On many Syrian families, 2 years of war has had a devastating impact and has left more than four million people in need of aid. In numerous parts of the country the health system has virtually collapsed, water supplies have been cut and and food is in short supply.

Additionally, over one million people have now fled to the neighbouring countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. Refugees are now arriving at camps which are already stretched to capacity, many families are living in basic shelters they have built themselves, with host families in overcrowded conditions or in partly finished buildings.

For more information about this appeal and how you can donate please visit the Disasters Emergency Committee's Syria Crisis Appeal website at:

http://www.dec.org.uk/appeals/syria-crisis-appeal

And to see how you can donate with Office Green please feel free to visit our website at:

http://www.officegreen.co.uk/