There are hundreds of millions of used ink cartridges and toner cartridges thrown away in to trash. These cartridges are reusable and should be recycled for the interest of saving the environment and benefit from reusing the same container reducing the waste of material and energy would have been used to produce a new one. Ink cartridges are made of plastic and petroleum products and generally take about 1000 years to decompose. Recycling the used and empty ink cartridges can save millions of cubic feet of material. Most cartridges like Lexmark ink cartridges and Epson ink cartridges can be recycled up to six times means they can be refilled, refurbished and resold for six times saving the cost and producing the same quality results and output as from the new one.How to recycle the cartridges? Find the instruction from the box of the cartridge on how to recycle it. Most of the companies like Lexmark and Epson provide with the guidance not along with packaging materials and prepaid post envelops encouraging consumers to recycle the used cartridges.Get in touch with laser-toner international and they will pick up the used laser and ink cartridge and deliver it back to you for free. You can contact the Eco Office about recycling the used and empty cartridges and they would be able to provide you with a list of companies local to you who will purchase your used cartridges and even provide you with the remanufactured ones.Contact the international Recycling Association for more information regarding recycling the ink cartridges and toners. Where to recycle?Local Recyclers:The recycling industry is quite big and there are plenty of recyclers available in the market. You can find one which is local to you or you might be able to locate the drop-off centre within the computer stores or the office supplies store. But it is always better off to hand delivering your cartridge to the recycling centre directly. There are also other benefits of recycling locally like you can collect your cash immediately and do not have to wait for the check to arrive via post. To find your local recycler you should either inquire about it in local computer shops or office products suppliers or call the environment groups as they might know of the centre near to you.Recycle it online:Search for the recycling sites or information about the recycling centres. There are hand full of recycling outfits who plead for shipments of empty and used ink cartridges and toner from organizations and individuals via the online website interface. All you need to do is to just create a free account with them and they will send the free shipping containers for you to post your used and empty cartridges. They will then calculate the amount accordingly and send you the payment. Each of these online interfaces will have a list of cartridges and toner they will accept, so that you will have to be sure to check the list first before sending in yours as some of them charge even penalty if the cartridge you sent is not in their list. Moreover if you wish to donate your used or empty cartridges you should contact the charities those are participating in the cartridge donation programs.