Go green, save green on your printer cartridge

As a nation constantly connected to our computers, we are constantly pulling papers off printers and copiers.

In the United States, it adds up to more than 700,000,000 inkjet and toner cartridges sold each year. An estimated 240,000,000 end up in the landfill each year.

Those printer cartridges can empty your wallet, but they can also fill up the landfill. An East Tennessee company aims to cut into both those trends.

"I understand, what, 8 a second are thrown away everyday?" inkjet user Robert Duncan said. "We really need to clean up our acts in Tennessee and all over the US."

Business like Rapid Refill Ink make money by keeping some of those cartridges out of the landfill.

"They come in with their empty cartridge, and we immediately have refill cartridges waiting," said Kevin Kugley of Rapid Refill.

That cartridge a customer like Robert Duncan brings in is recycled--refilled and reused. Some cartridges can repeat the process up to seven times.

They are first cleaned, then filled with the ink. The cartridge sits for 24 hours and then goes through a test run. Finally, the cartridge is packaged for a new customer.

"I think that's a good thing, but the prices here are so great," Duncan said.

"Typically, we sell those cartridges about half of what the big box stores sell them at," Kugley said.

Recycled and refilled cartridges run anywhere from $4.50 to $24.50.

If you'd like to find out more about Rapid Refill, you can visit their website.