Did you know...

• More than 1.1 billion inkjet cartridges are used annually around the world - laid end to end this would be 129 times as long as the Great Wall of China
• Approximately 3.5 litres of oil are required to produce each new laser printer cartridge and 90 ml of oil is used to produce each inkjet cartridge
• Each discarded empty laser printer cartridge adds approximately three pounds of waste to our landfills
• The plastic used in a typical cartridge is made of engineering grade polymers and is expected to take up to 1000 years to decompose
• More than 30 million inkjet cartridges are dumped each year in the UK (1800 tonnes) - the same weight as 18 Blue Whales
• Industry analysts estimate a spent cartridge can be reused or remanufactured between 3 to 7 times - every cartridge remanufactured is one fewer going directly to the landfill
• 20-30% of all cartridges sold worldwide are remanufactured

And did you also know...

• 23 million new mobile phones were purchased in the UK (2004 - LG)
• It is expected that one billion handsets will be sold each year by 2009
• There are about 50 million mobile phone subscribers in the UK
• The average mobile phone user will replace their handset once every 18 months.
• It is estimated that less than 20% of all unused mobile phones in the UK are currently recycled
• Estimates state that close to 90 million phones are hiding in drawers and cupboards across the UK (11250 tonnes) - these weigh almost six times as much as the London Eye!
• Mobile phones contain numerous substances which need to be disposed of in safe and efficient manner

Recycling your used print cartridges and mobile phones couldn't be easier, just bring them in to school (wrap them in a bag so they can't make a mess of your bag!) and either put them in the recycle box in the LRC or hand them in to the office. Easy!