With the ever-increasing amount of electronic equipment, there is a greater need for recycling these items to keep them out of landfills. Instead of throwing the items away, encourage your donors and friends to save these items and turn them into cash for your charity! There are many companies your fundraising group can work with to bring in some much-needed funds through recycling.

One of the best companies for animal rescue groups and humane societies to use is The FundingFactory Recycling Program which collects over 85% of all ink and laser printer cartridges currently being used, and many cell phones that can be recycled. According to the FundingFactory website, “an estimated 350 million inkjet and laser cartridges and used cell phones will be thrown away this year alone.” Use your community connections to collect empty cartridges and turn them into cash to help feed your rescued animals! Some smaller animal rescues are earning over $1,000 a year through recycling, with larger humane societies earning far more!

Ink and Laser Cartridges:

eCycleGroup.com also collects inkjet and laser printer cartridges, but no cell phones. This company allows groups to give away individual mailers where people can send in their empty printer cartridges at their convenience, instead of collecting them and turning them into a main location. This simple step increases the possibility that people will participate! (This group has received many compliments from fellow animal rescue groups, and is considered highly reputable.)

Empties4Cash has one of the best payouts for ink jet cartridges. They have also been known to have a quick turnaround time for payment, which makes this company a favorite to work with.

FreeRecycling.com offers ink and laser cartridges, along with cell phones. (Payout may be less than other companies.)

Toner Buyer takes in color laser cartridges that many other companies won’t.

Enviro Solutions, LLC takes many of the remanufactured cartridges that are not allowed by other companies.

Cell Phones Only:

Another cell phone recycling company is GRC Wireless Recycling. This company works with groups in the US and Canada, and is a favorite of many animal rescue groups for their higher pay-outs for many popular phones! Compare their prices paid with other companies.

Phoneraiser.com is also being used by many nonprofit animal rescue groups to bring in funds.

Charitable Recycling also focuses exclusively on cell phone recycling. They take all types of cell phones regardless of the age or condition.

One recycling company that was quite popular with animal rescue groups was CashForCritters.com which will accept ink jet printer cartridges, laser printer cartridges, and digital cell phones. This is a popular group that many humane societies and childrens’ based charities currently work with, and receive instant cash, instead of accumulating points. (CashForCritters is not currently accepting new applications, and has discontinued their cartridge recycling program as of Dec 2007.)

Whichever company you decide to use, be sure to compare their prices with other popular companies. Also, consider splitting up which items you send to each company in order to maximize your profits. For instance, you may wish to use GRC Wireless for phones, Empties4Cash for your inkjet cartridges, and The FundingFactory Recycling Program for the laser cartridges. Review each company’s payout plans to ensure you get top dollar for your recyclables. Take note of the minimum amount of cartridges needed before you send them in; storage may become an issue if you have too many programs going for too long.