Empties Pave their Way to the Moon -Berto Finds Space

Empties Pave their Way to the Moon

Approximately 1.1 billion inkjet cartridges are used by printers from all over the world on a yearly basis and if these cartridges would be stacked one next to the other, their total length will be almost 130 times longer than the Great Wall of China. Obviously, they will also be visible from the Moon too.

According to A Greener Refill, upwards of 375 million of these cartridges are thrown away yearly, many of them winding up in landfills. For the sake of perspective, that’s more than a million cartridges daily or eleven cartridges each second. A laser cartridge thrown into a landfill can take up to 450 years to decompose – some components take over 1,000 years.

Approximately 25% of all printer cartridges sold worldwide are recycled
Although this is a good thing, it is still not sufficient. The other 75% of printer cartridges sold worldwide are brand new ones and obviously, the manufacturing processes of these cartridges consume a lot of energy and money. This can be prevented by recycling more printer cartridges.

300 million printer cartridges are thrown away on a yearly basis
If these cartridges would be stacked end-to-end, their length will be able to circle the entire Earth. That actually means 24 thousand miles. Some say we could pave our way to the moon and back with all the used cartridges that have ended up in a landfill. Hence, Berto’s cartoon for the month: