Questions...

Q. What is Collect@Work?
A. Collect@Work is a scheme to raise money for a charity or local school by collecting empty printer cartridges and old mobile phones for recycling.

Q. Why should we join the Collect@Work scheme?
A. A. About 75% of homes have printers, and if you add this to the number of office printers too, the UK gets through a lot of printer cartridges. In fact, we throw 31 million plastic printer cartridges a year into UK landfill sites. They take hundreds, even thousands of years to biodegrade! When you consider that many printer cartridges can be cleaned and reused you start to get a picture of how much is being wasted - and how much damage is being done to our environment.

Most of us replace our mobile phones every 18 months but they have an average life span of 8 years. Because of this, about 90 million phones are currently unused in the UK. This too is a waste. They contain dangerous substances and shouldn't be left unused for too long. Instead, they could be patched up and sent to a developing country, making a huge difference to someone else's life. Collect@Work is just one of the ways in which you can do something to limit this waste and damage to the environment. Remember, we pay out for your cartridges and phones, so your chosen cause benefits too.

Q. We are only a small workplace, is it worth joining the scheme?
A. Yes, we will pay you for the items you return whether you send 1 box or 10 boxes! It will not take us long to pay the charity or school for your items; you will soon be able to see the results of your efforts. We have small schools signed up to our Collect4School scheme that are making hundreds of pounds a year. So recycling will always be worth it.

Q. How much can the Collect@Work scheme earn for our cause?
A. Empty cartridges are worth money, particularly inkjets. Some cartridges are worth several pounds each. Many mobile phones are also worth several pounds each. Each collection of cartridges and phones will typically be worth over £50 to your local school or charity. So far we have paid out thousands of pounds a year to those recycling through our Collect4 schemes.

Q. How does the Collect@Work scheme work?
A. We will provide you with collection boxes or you may choose the 'green option' and reuse a suitable box or container you already have. You simply put them in a prominent place and ask colleagues to deposit their empty cartridges and old mobile phones into them. Please make sure that mobile phones are sealed in a bag so that they can't get inky! When you have at least one full collection box, contact us and we will arrange a free collection. We will pay you for each item returned that we can recycle. It costs nothing to be involved in the scheme.

Q. How big is the Collect@Work collection box?
A.The Collect@Work collection box measures 46cm high by 36cm by 36cm. It arrives flat-packed and is easy to assemble. It also includes a lid and a header board to sit on top of the box which is 46cm high.

Q. How can we let people in our office know that we are collecting printer cartridges and mobile phones for recycling?
A.We have a page on our website where you can download useful posters to place on your collection box which will tell employees what the box is for. We also have posters available for you to use all around your building informing people where the Collect@Work collection box is located.

Q. How do we know which cartridges to collect?
A. You simply collect all types of printer cartridge. We can pay you for the ones that can be refilled and resold. Unfortunately, as of yet not all cartridges can be refilled and sometimes the cost of refillling some is approximately equivalent to the costs involved in the collection and recycling process. We will take all cartridges you collect to our centre and sort them. We will then pay you varying amounts for those which we can refill. The rest will be recycled into other plastic products so it is still worth sending us everything. Inside the log in section you will find a table detailing which cartridges we can pay you for and how much we will give you for each type of cartridge.

Q. How do we know which mobile phones to collect?
A. You can send us all types of mobile phone (with the chargers if you have them). If the phones can't be reconditioned and sent to developing countries, they will be broken down into their component parts and disposed of safely. We can pay you for any phones that can be reconditioned and hence have a new life. Inside the log in section you will find a table detailing which mobile phones we can pay you for and how much we will give you for each type of mobile phone.

Q. Do you only recycle printer cartridges and mobile phones?
A. At the moment we specialise in recycling printer cartridges and mobile phones (with their accessories). So please don't include paper, photocopier toner bottles, fax rolls or ribbons of any kind. Fax rolls may contain sensitive information and should be destroyed on site. Please don't send home or office landline phones as we can only recycle mobile phones.

Q. We have a collection box. How should items be stored as they are collected?
A. If you are collecting cartridges in a collection box please discard laser toner boxes as they take up too much space and use up extra resources to transport them. You should recycle the laser toner packaging using your normal office recycling procedure. Put all cartridges into the collection boxes. Please make sure that mobile phones are sealed in a bag before going in the collection box so that they don't get messy! We suggest that you line each collection box inside with a plastic liner (something like a strong bin liner will be sufficient).

Q. We have a full collection box. How should we prepare the cartridges and arrange a collection?
A.When the collection box is full, please take the bag out of your collection box and find a suitable cardboard box (or boxes) to reuse to pack the items in. You may send the items back in the Collect@Work collection boxes provided however it saves resources (and means that you always have a collection box) if you recycle a different box from your office. The boxes will be picked up by our Collect@Work authorised collectors. To arrange a free collection just contact us. Collection will normally be within one or two days of your request. When contacting us please give your name, your company's name, where the items can be collected from (Main Reception is normally the easiest), number and approximate size of boxes for collection.

Some of the cartridges that you have collected may have small amounts of ink remaining in the cartridge so we would advise you to take sensible precautions whilst packing the cartridges into boxes for us. We suggest that you avoid sorting your used printer cartridges on carpeted areas or on upholstered furniture. It would also be a good idea to spread old newspapers under the area where you are packing your boxes for collection so as to avoid any drips escaping onto furniture or fabric. Laser toner accidentally spilt onto clothes, furniture etc., should come out with detergent (soap, washing-up liquid, washing powder, carpet shampoo, stain removers, etc.) but inkjet can stain and you may need to use specialist stain removers to combat this. Any type of ink that gets onto skin can however be washed off (sometimes with a bit of elbow grease!) with ordinary household soap and warm water.

If possible, please line each packing box with plastic bin liners (in case of any ink drips) and scrunched up newspaper or shredded paper around the sides of the box to protect the items in transit. Please make sure all boxes you prepare for us to collect are full and securely taped shut.

We would be grateful if you would follow these straightforward packaging guidelines, they will keep down costs and thus maximise the money we can pay your charity or local school.

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