Small (and even large) businesses are more concerned with ease of disposal of empty cartridges than they are in maximizing their return on them. Companies that have empty toner cartridges already have them sitting in the manufacturer boxes in the stock room are often times too lazy to affix the provided shipping labels and ship them back to the manufacturer. But when they do they sheepishly admitted they only do that about half the time -- just "too much bother" when it is easier to throw them in the trash and let someone else take care of them.

Frankly, the vast majority of users do not see these items as having enough value to find out who will buy them locally, then save them until they have enough to justify making a trip to the local buyer. Nor do they want them sitting around cluttering up their workplace and taking up precious storage space. Some toner "carts" cost over $150 new - but once empty the business owners, managers, or operators just see them as a nuisance to get rid of. This is even more true for ink-jet cartridges. The big difference here is that relative fewer ink-jets are used by businesses - they are much more prevalent in home use. Hence, they are much more widely dispersed from a supply standpoint, and of much lower value.

You'll find, should you choose to pursue this business, that it's relatively easy to develop a steady stream of high-value laser toner cartridges which you can easily and rapidly make a substantial profit on. All it takes is some concerted effort to do the in-person marketing and some shoe-leather. After that, it is simply a matter of servicing your accounts steadily and consistently. The ink-jet cartridges can be just as rewarding, but require a lot more volume to make an equivalent profit.

When dealing in ink-jets you must essentially develop a series of drop-off points where motivated individuals can take their empties. The other option is to consider working with local organizations needing to raise funds, such as Boy Scouts, food banks, church auxiliary groups, or school groups. Any organization with a lot of members who will work voluntarily and/or having a substantial "outreach" with motivated members or participants can be a goldmine. Why? Because you need to give people an incentive to act - and supporting an organization in which they have a vested interest is what it frequently takes.

The great thing about working with these groups, besides the personal rewards, is that this is an ongoing project for them. Once they get a taste of how much easier it is for them to raise funds by soliciting and picking up "scrap" than it is to sell products to raise funds, they're ‘hooked'.

Getting a local scout troop to collect a few hundred or even a thousand empties on a Saturday is a piece of cake compared to all the other things they usually do to raise funds - much faster and lots more profitable. Get them to do it three of four times a year, and do this with a few other local organizations, and you've got yourself a pretty substantial income stream - with little physical work on your behalf.

You will find that various franchise establishments will place a recycle bin out to collect empty toner cartridges as part of their franchise agreement. Although they wouldn't give much in the way of information regarding quantities they collect, I imagine it isn't substantial. If, however, you can get a number of businesses willing to act as a collection point to support a local charity or service group, you'll have yourself another stream of recycling income - as will the organization. Win-Win; what could be better?

OK, you're excited about getting this off the ground. Do this first: find a local company which refills or recharges these items. Get their prices and terms - and let them know you are not interested in competing with them, but you have other resources you can sell to if they don't want to "play".

Be sure to always get the CURRENT price list when buying empties. Remember RULE 1 of profitable recycling!

As a price comparison tool, or if you cannot find a local buyer for your newfound treasure, check out these companies: .tonerbuyer.com and buyempty.com. Both have good programs and will work with you and advise you as to some other creative fund-raising and marketing methods.

Once you have visited these websites and start collecting empty cartridges you will be able to gauge how much you will make based the number of merchants that agree to work with your program on collecting their empties.