Modern day printers has revolutionized the way people print, it has changed the process on how documents are presented. With the technical development though, various complications appear to affect the environment and the print cartridge production chain.
Remember, 350 million cartridges are used annually around the globe, of which only about 20% are reused. The 80% that inhabit landfills are left to decompose, the sad part however cartridges take 1000 years to rot. By the sheer volume alone if this practice continues unabated the globe will run out of landfills to accommodate printer trash - ink cartridge recycling should be lawfully mandated.
Only by legal means can the manufacturers and consumers be forced to reuse or recycle the used printer cartridges. The manufacture of cartridges has resulted in undue stress to the environment and non-renewable reserves. Take note that to produce 200,000 ink cartridges it will use as much as 20,000 kilograms of aluminum, around 100 tons of plastic and 2,000,000 liters of oil - all are part of the globes non-renewable reserves.
Aside from the threat to the material chain, the manufacture of ink cartridges also contribute to the degradation of the air we breathe. A single toner delivers as much as 3.2 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. So, for 200,000 cartridges as mentioned above results in 640,000 kilograms of CO2 enters the air stream and deposited as greenhouse gasses.
The stats shown above are just for for print cartridges, what about the other forms of social activity that preoccupies everybody. A little here, a little there magnifies the effect of these activities to the the atmosphere, choking it beyond repair.
Only in ink cartridge recycling and activity moderation can the world survive in this millennia, failure to institute reforms is a pure death wish for the place we call earth.
Articles like this are why nobody believes anything said or written by environmentalists.