Staples incentivizes consumers to recycle

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Staples is generating traffic to its brick-and-mortar stores with its ink and toner cartridge recycling program. Since 2005, it has recycled 350 million ink and toner cartridges, averaging more than 60 million cartridges per year for the past three years.

The program incentives customers to recycle by offering them $2 back in Staples Rewards per recycled cartridge, with a limit of 10 per month. Consumers drop off used cartridges at any Staples retail location and Ink Recycling Rewards can be used to buy almost anything from Staples, in-store or online. In addition to recycling rewards, Staples Rewards members receive free shipping from Staples.com and 5% back on all purchases.

“Staples is America’s number one choice for ink and toner, in part because of our great cartridge recycling program,” said Mark Buckley, VP, environmental affairs, Staples. “As the largest retail recycler of ink and toner in North America, Staples is thrilled to be the first to reach this milestone, as we help customers reduce their environmental footprint and save money at the same time. Staples makes it easy to find replacement ink and toner, with fast, free delivery on Staples.com and knowledgeable associates to assist with in-store purchases.”

Through the cartridge recycling program, Staples has recycled 182 million pounds of plastics and metals, roughly the equivalent weight of an aircraft carrier or 400 times the Statue of Liberty. The cartridge recycling milestone is just one of several environmental accomplishments for Staples, which announced last month it reached 500 facilities certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program.