Beginning at this year's first home football game Sept. 28, the University athletics department began encouraging students to donate their used ink jet printer cartridges to raise money for the department and benefit the environment.
The athletics department has teamed up with the Charitable Recycling Company, LLC to make money from these cartridges, which would ordinarily be thrown away.
The company collects used ink jet cartridges from various organizations including colleges and universities in order to refill the cartridges with new ink and repackage them for sale to the public.
In exchange for each used cartridge the department donates, it receives $2.
There is a potential to make nearly $25,000 per year, assuming each student donates three cartridges, said Brandon Macneill, associate director of athletics for development and marketing.
But so far, the athletics department has collected only 30 cartridges, earning $60. None of these cartridges were received at the first home football game, Macneill said.
The money raised will be used toward athletic publications, giveaways and other expenses not covered by the University budget.
"It's something we can do to offset the increasing cost of the [athletics] communications office," Macneill said. "Anytime we can go out and raise money, that's more money we'll have in our war chest to get out the word" about upcoming events.
Other universities have tried similar programs, he said.
This arrangement benefits everyone involved, said Vince Acerbo, president of Charitable Recycling. When organizations sell their used cartridges to him, they are able to make some money for themselves, help reduce the waste output of their institution and turn a profit for Charitable Recycling, all at the same time, he said.
Since March, a similar print cartridge recycling program, has been operating in several University departments. Another program, organized by the purchasing department, allows all academic departments to sell their used laser printer cartridges for between $1 and $2 each.
Many empty cartridges had simply taken up space in department offices, said Mark Aanonsen, the University's senior purchasing agent.
Many people did not want to throw out the cartridges and stored them in empty filing cabinets or desk drawers, he said.
The first scheduled pickup at the Wilson School yielded 30 cartridges, Aanonsen said.
The revenue generated by the sale of used laser cartridges goes directly back to the department.
As of yet, however, there is no program to recycle the toner cartridges used in University cluster printers.
Collection bins for the athletic department's efforts can be found at Princeton Stadium, Jadwin Gym and Dillon Gym.
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