CartridgesDirect Celebrates 50,000 Recycled Ink Cartridges, Saving An Estimated 130 Turtles

Do you know how many recycled ink cartridges it takes to save a turtle? Well, it’s not the easiest question to answer, but the boffins at CartridgesDirect have dived deep into understanding turtle deaths in Australia alongside our collective efforts in cartridge recycling.

As the company reached a milestone celebrating 50,000 recycled ink cartridges, we asked, ‘what does this actually mean for the environment?’

Let’s break it down, as we uncover one real world example exploring how our cartridge recycling campaign is having a noticeable impact in the marine world, by saving turtles from plastic we’ve kept out of the ocean.

Plastic Waste In Australia: The Basics

The National Waste & Resource Recovery Report published in 2024 shows that 3.4 mt (million tonnes) of plastic waste was generated by Australia in 2022-23. 

Of that whopping figure, up to 130,000 tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean every single year. 

That’s just over 4% of all plastic waste from Australia heading straight into the Great Barrier Reef, or swimming alongside you at Bondi Beach.

Cartridges Direct: Saving 1.5 Tonnes Of Ink Cartridges From Landfill

Through our simple initiative that began 7 years ago, 50,000 ink cartridges have been successfully recycled, as of April 2025.

To put that into perspective, 50,000 ink cartridges is the equivalent to 1.5 tonnes, or about the weight of a small to  medium sized boat.

Using that same percentage, we calculated that we’ve avoided approximately 650g of ink cartridge plastic from ending up in our waters thanks to these recycling efforts.

Now, that might seem like a literal drop in the ocean, but the ripple effects can be huge.

Turtle Deaths In Australia Caused By Plastic Ingestion

In 2018, the same year the Cartridges4PlanetArk recycling program was launched, an independent investigation into sea turtle mortality revealed that almost 60% of the 248 turtles studied had ingested plastic debris, with a significantly higher probability of this being the cause of death the more plastic that was ingested. Here’s what else was discovered:

• Between 0.01g and 10.41g of plastic was found in each turtle. 
• A turtle swallowing just one piece of plastic has a 22% chance of death.
• 1 in 2 turtles will die after swallowing 14 pieces of plastic. 

If 1,000 turtle deaths a year at minimum are attributed to plastic ingestion in Australia according to WWF, then removing the plastic that enters the ocean is a vital step in conserving the population of these magnificent marine creatures. And even the smallest amount of plastic can cause turtle mortality.

A Humble Rescue Mission From CartridgesDirect

There’s no exact science to understand how much plastic will kill a turtle. But using the average weight of debris found in turtle carcasses from this study, we’re assuming that the amount of lethal plastic ingestion for a turtle is around 5g.

Therefore, 650g of plastic in the ocean that would still be there if it weren’t for our recycling efforts means there’s a potential for 130 turtles to die from 5g worth of plastic ingestion caused directly from plastic waste. And that’s a conservative estimation (not forgetting that some could die from ingesting just 1g or 2g).

Since our program began in 2018, we could have saved 18 to 19 turtles every single year from needless, lethal plastic ingestion.

Of the 1,000 turtles that die in Australian waters every year (at least), that’s a modest impact from just one company.

How You Can Get Involved In Our Ink Cartridge Recycling Program

In 2018, we partnered with PlanetArk and major printer brands such as Canon and HP to prioritise sustainable ink and toner cartridges through our manufacturing and disposal processes. 

Whether you’re an office worker, a graphic design student, or a creative, getting involved couldn’t be easier. When you order your cartridges with us, you’ll receive a postage-paid empty package. Just put your used cartridges inside, and take them to your nearest postbox, where they’ll be sent to the designated recycling facility. That’s all you have to do!

Australians throw away over 18 million cartridges yearly, resulting in over 5,000 tonnes of landfill waste. If we recycled all these cartridges, we could prevent an impressive 215 tonnes of plastic annual waste from entering the ocean, and save even more wildlife.

Making Individual Efforts Tangible On A Collective Scale

It’s true that one recycled ink cartridge probably won’t save a turtle, or any other creature for that matter.

But being able to look at the bigger picture and understand how your efforts can contribute to real-world solutions is a step towards empowerment. When we contribute to worthy causes, it can be hard to notice what good we're really doing against the onslaught of pollution, especially up against the larger volumes of damage caused by global corporations. 

On the other hand, something as simple as using your consumer power to invest in the right suppliers makes a tangible impact. Just imagine standing in an aquarium filled with 18 turtles that you were directly responsible for helping to save.

Help Us Save More Turtles By Recycling More Ink Cartridges

The number of turtles we’re saving isn’t a fact – it’s an estimate using real-world data. Keeping our oil and plastics from cartridges out of landfill has countless ecological benefits for all marine life, not just turtles, as well as protecting habitats and animal populations across the country, from the rainforests to the deserts.

When it’s this straightforward to contribute, why wouldn’t you want to help keep protecting our ecosystems, and drive positive change? Order your ink cartridges with us today, and be part of something bigger.