"Green Fundraising”; help the environment and earn money for your cause

One of the great parts of my job is helping keep toxic ink and toner cartridges out of landfills.  Did you know that only 5% of ALL empty inkjet cartridges are currently being recycled?  With all the cartridges thrown in to landfills you could build a bridge to the Moon with those cartridges over a 7 year period.  Amazing huh?! In many cases consumers don’t know that they have an option to recycle cartridges.  They don’t know where to take them, nor do they realize that these cartridges actually have a value to them.  As the old saying goes, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.”

Ink and Toner Company, Rapid Refill, has created a great program that virtually anyone in the country can take advantage of.  This recycling program is not only free to implement, but there is a value to each and every cartridge that is recycled.  Who know that ink cartridges were a commodity traded like pork and corn?

This fundraising program can be used by a non-profit, school, church, band, business…the list goes on and on.  All the group has to do is start collecting the cartridges. Once they are collected they are put in a pre-labeled box to send back to Rapid Refill and then a check is issued to that group.  For more information on this program, please visit this site: http://rapidinkandtoner.com/main/community/

Or feel free to contact me @rapidinktoner on Twitter and on my Linkedin page “Nicholas Kline”

What does at home coupon printing really "cost" you?

Let me begin by telling you that I love finding a great deal! I'm that guy that takes all the shampoo and conditioner bottles out of hotel rooms I stay in, just so I can reuse it at home.  I've been known to pop into a local hotel that offers the free breakfast. You know the type, right? Waffles, oatmeal, donuts, cinnamon buns...you name it, they have it. The best part is all you have to do is say good morning to the person behind the counter, make small talk and you too can enjoy your free breakfast!

I digress....there is a great phenomenon going on in our country right now. It's called "couponing".  I'm sure you've seen the type. You can pick these people out a mile away, they have a binder that they take with them to go grocery shopping. They have pages and pages of plastic folders, labeled very neatly, with tons and tons of coupons.  Not only do they get these coupons from the Sunday paper, but they also visit sites such as www.couponmom.com to print out coupons.

I'm amazed at the fact that people follow people like @MoneySavingMom, @Coupon_Dad  and @Couponing101 on twitter to save 25 cents here or 50 cents there on all the products they would ever buy.  But have these people really understood how much it costs to print these coupons?

Lets take a look at the average inkjet printer.  You know, the big ugly grey box that just sits at your desk?On average (yeah I know your printer gets more or gets less prints and it's all based on ink coverage on a piece of paper) an inkjet cartridge will get around 500 pages per cartridge.  You can of course buy an XL cartridge that is the same size as the regular cartridge, they just put more ink in it.  Or you can buy specific low cost brands (work just as good as the Originals..more on that later) like Rapid Refill. www.rapidinkandtoner.com

So, if the original black cartridge costs $26.99 and you can get 500 pages from that cartridge, your cost to print that one page coupon is around 5.4 cents (~10 cents per color coupon).  Now that may not seam like a lot, but multiple that over many printed coupons and before you know it, you are out of ink.

All couponers out there, do me a favor and look at the lower cost alternative to over priced ink.  As yourself, "Am I still paying full price for my ink?"  Not only are these other companies less expensive, they also are a green friendly option. Nothing is better then getting a great deal, but helping the environment is a close second for me!