The Drawer Test: How Many Empty Ink Cartridges Are Sitting in Your Home Right Now?
, by Planet Green, 3 min reading time
Take a moment and think about where you keep printer supplies.
Maybe it's a desk drawer.
A filing cabinet.
A shelf in the home office.
A box in the garage.
A closet where old office supplies seem to accumulate.
Now ask yourself a simple question:
How many empty ink cartridges are sitting there right now?
You might be surprised by the answer.
The Cartridge People Forget
Most people don't intentionally save empty cartridges.
They simply don't know what to do with them.
An ink cartridge runs dry. A replacement is installed. The empty gets set aside with the intention of dealing with it later.
Then life happens.
Weeks turn into months.
Months turn into years.
Before long, a drawer that was supposed to hold office supplies has become a storage space for cartridges that everyone forgot about.
Why Summer Is the Perfect Time to Look
Summer is often the season of cleaning and organizing.
Families clean garages.
Home offices get reorganized.
Storage closets are sorted.
Old paperwork is shredded.
People finally tackle projects they've been postponing.
As these spaces are cleaned, empty cartridges frequently resurface.
What many people don't realize is that those cartridges still have value.
Not Trash, But A Resource
An empty ink cartridge isn't simply a piece of plastic.
Many cartridges can be remanufactured, allowing them to be cleaned, rebuilt, refilled, and used again.
Others can be recycled, helping recover materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
When cartridges are thrown away, those opportunities disappear.
When they're recycled, they become part of a process that helps conserve resources and reduce waste.
A Quick Household Challenge
Try the Drawer Test this week.
Check:
- Home office desks
- Filing cabinets
- Printer supply drawers
- Storage closets
- Garage shelves
- Utility rooms
- Old computer or office supply boxes
Gather every empty ink cartridge you can find.
Many families discover far more than they expected.
Even one or two cartridges that might have been thrown away can now be recycled instead.
Turn Cleaning Into Giving
For organizations participating in the Planet Green Recycle program, the Drawer Test can become more than a cleaning project.
Supporters can recycle their cartridges using the organization's Program ID, helping generate support while keeping cartridges out of landfills.
It's one of the easiest fundraising activities available because it doesn't require supporters to spend money or attend an event.
They're simply recycling something they already have.
Don't Forget Future Purchases
While you're checking printer supplies, take a look at your replacement cartridges too.
Many supporters don't realize they can also support participating organizations when purchasing ink and toner through Planet Green Recycle using a Program ID.
That means both ends of the printing cycle can help:
- Recycle the empty cartridge.
- Purchase the replacement cartridge using the Program ID.
It's a simple way to support an organization while buying products you already need.
The Small Things Matter
People often assume fundraising requires large donations or major events.
Sometimes support comes from much smaller actions.
A cartridge sitting forgotten in a drawer may seem insignificant.
But multiplied across dozens of homes, hundreds of supporters, and entire communities, those forgotten cartridges become a meaningful source of support.
Take the Test
Before summer slips away, open a few drawers and see what you find.
You may discover that your next contribution to a school, church, nonprofit, or community organization has been sitting quietly in your home all along.
The Drawer Test only takes a few minutes.
The results might surprise you.
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