Students Collect, Recycle Printer Cartridges

BOSTON -- Local schools are getting creative with their fundraisers.

NewsCenter 5's David Brown reported Tuesday that some schools have turned some ways of raising money into ways of raising awareness about the environment.

Money doesn't grow on trees at the Luce Elementary School in Canton -- though it can be found inside with the latest fundraising effort. For more than a year, the students in the school have been collecting ink and laser cartridges and recycling them. It is part of the school's effort to get green by going green.

The students were shocked to learn that 350 million cartridges per year end up in landfills. They were alarmed by the waste and wanted to make a difference.

"We read about global warming, and we thought we should do something about it. It looks so overwhelming to me. I knew that even, like, a little thing could make a difference," fifth-grader Nicole Ryan said.

"These are just some of the things we can do to teach the kids how to change their earth. It's little by little; every little bit does make a difference," teacher Denise Cassidy said.

Little by little, the kids are making a difference. The money they earned by recycling the cartridges bought a tree that was planted in front of the school.

The cartridges are remanufactured, recycled and eventually reused. In return, the schools can collect anywhere from 50 cents to $10 per cartridge.

A business called Cartridge World takes the used cartridges, rebuilds them, fills them with the company's own ink and resells them. The cartridges stay local, and the money earned stays local.