This Earth Day presents a chance to think about how to tweak routines into sustainable practices that benefit the planet. Saving electricity, buying a reusable water bottle and planting a tree all go far—but what about those thousands of toxic items discarded daily that end up in landfills for decades, like printer cartridges?
Luckily Custom Computers Ltd. has know-how that extends beyond computer technology needs—as a business, they encourage sustainable practices in the community through their Hewlett Packard printer cartridge recycling program.
Omar of Custom Computers prepares HP Toners for shipping to the Hewlett-Packard recycling facility in the USA.
Reonaldo and Raphy of the Know-How Team volunteer to pack HP cartridges for recycling
For two years now, Custom Computers Ltd. has collected empty printer cartridges from the Bahamian community to send to the United States for recycling. Whereas in the U.S. consumers can mail their cartridges back to HP for recycling, no such program existed in The Bahamas until Custom Computers saw the need to provide this service, and teamed up with HP as a Planet Partner to provide it. Since then, they have shipped ten pallets of used cartridges and toners out of the country for recycling. With 95% of materials reused from these cartridges, its impacts have far-reaching consequences both locally and globally.
“We want to thank our customers for supporting this initiative, keeping cartridges and toners out of our landfills and for keeping The Bahamas green,” says Pia Farmer, Marketing Director of CCL. “There has to be leadership in our community to find these sustainable opportunities. If we all do our little bit, imagine how great our home would be.”
Custom Computers Ltd., she points out, employs several sustainable practices as a business, including collecting the cardboard from their packaging and recycling it through Bahamas Waste.
Yet the best practices are those which encourage consumers to take responsibility for the change they wish to see in their environment, so the business also gives out their red “green” reusable bags free with every purchase that customers can continue to use in their daily shopping activities in place of plastic bags. Such initiatives continue to define Customer Computers Ltd as a responsible local business that seeks opportunities to improve the community.
“We are all here to do what we can within the realm of possibility to take care of our environment,” says Farmer. “Although opportunities in The Bahamas are few, we’re happy to provide another avenue for our customers and the wider community to help. We’ve made and will continue to make this commitment, and we hope you will too.” If you would like to see a video showing the recycling process of ink cartridges and toners by Hewlett Packard, check out the Custom Computers Ltd website at www.customcomputers.bs. www.customcomputers.bs.
Cartridges and toners for recycling can be dropped off at both Custom Computers Know-How store locations in the Harbor Bay Shopping Center and in Cable Beach.
