A long-time annoyance for me with inkjet printing is the environmental impact of using consumables such as ink cartridges. Ink cartridges are a complicated mix of computer chips, heavy metals, electronics, plastic, and other materials and generally cannot be recycled at traditional recycling facilities. It is estimated that less than half of ink cartridges are recycled, and over 375 million cartridges per year end up in landfills in the US alone.
One desirable solution to this issue would be to use reusable ink cartridges. Alas, here in the US, none of the manufacturers of printers provide such cartridges. Some third party ink providers do provide reusable cartridges, but many printers (including myself) prefer to use OEM inks provided by the manufacturer.
So, how to recycle these things? Retailers like Staples do recycle cartridges, even ones that they do not sell, but I really have no idea what happens to giant Epson P9000 cartridges like I use — I would not be surprised if unusual cartridges such as these end up in a landfill.
Luckily, the three big printer manufacturers provide a recycling program for ink cartridges. Epson recycles both printers and cartridges —and will pay for shipping for printers themselves, but not the cartridges. Canon has a great recycling system and provides free shipping labels for exhausted cartridges, as does HP.