Recycle Your Office Supplies

Are you recycling your office supplies? Now you can!

Save your used office supplies and recycle them on designated days.

On March 24 and 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., students, faculty and staff can drop off their ink and toner cartridges/drum units/writing supplies/batteries at the designated station in the Agora. Writing supplies include pens, pencils, markers, highlighters, and so on.

Ink and toner cartridges can take 450 to 1,000 years to decompose. Similar to the other office supplies listed, when cartridges are sent to the landfill they leach into soil and nearby waterways. Many of the materials found in cartridges and other office supplies can be recycled.

These materials will be recycled into new products courtesy of Staples and Terra Cycle. The collected items are "mechanically and/or manually separated into metals, fibers, and plastics. Metals are melted so they may be recycled. The fibers (such as paper or wood-based products) are recycled or composted. The plastics undergo extrusion and pelletization to be molded into new recycled plastic products."

While recycling is an important way to divert waste, always consider where you can reduce your purchase and use of these items first.

Electronic waste is not accepted at this event. If you have electronics you need to recycle, please submit a work order to have them picked up.

Questions can be emailed to coordinator.sustainability@lakeheadu.ca.