Cerritos College started a new cartridge recycling program thanks to a five-year contract with Toshiba for the new copiers in the division departments.

The program started on March 1, 2010 when Toshiba offered the program as soon as the school purchased the new copiers. This gave Cerritos College the benefit of not having to spend more money on ink and toner.

The Purchasing department, which is part of the cartridge recycling program, began the program on behalf of students’ request to get Cerritos College more involved in recycling office supplies.

“There have been students that have come up and asked how we can do more,” said Purchasing department Secretary Ramona Mellgoza. “Before we would just throw all the cartridges away, so it just made sense to be a part of the program and recycle,” Mellgoza said.

The program has the campus education departments to recycle their Toshiba cartridges to the purchasing department where they will be packaged and shipped out to the vendor’s company. In return of recycling those used cartriges, the school can buy those recycled products.

Since this recycling program only handles Toshiba cartridges, the purchasing wharehouse can only recycle the Administrative division’s copier and printer cartridges that are from Toshiba.

With the progression of this program, there could be a possibility that the facility department can accept printer cartridges from students in the near future.

When asked about the thought of having a cartridge recycling program, undecided major Victor Hernandez was on board with the idea. “If we can actually have our own that would help us out a lot, especially in the time where in now,” Hernandez said.

Since the program just started a six months ago, the head of the facility and purchasing department are still on top of recycling the school’s cartridges. But it doesn’t mean that the probability is out of order for students.

“We could bring it up to the facilities department and see if there is any possible way that we can establish an area where it can be done. There has to be a lot of research done as far as who will take them, or if they will even accept them,” said  Miguel A. Arias, Inventory Control Expediter of the Purchasing department.

The cartridge recycling program gives the privilege of improving how Cerritos College uses thier cartridge products and gets the school more involved in recycling. This will build hope to continue with their vendor Toshiba.