All items · Electrical
Printer ink and toner cartridges
Also covers: printer ink, ink cartridge, inkjet cartridge, toner cartridge, printer toner
Can you donate printer ink and toner cartridges to a UK charity shop? It depends.
Why shops may refuse it
Acceptance varies: some charities collect selected cartridges through specialist recycling schemes, while others refuse them or only take brand-new supplies.
What to do instead
Check the cartridge maker's return scheme or an office-supply recycling point. Keep cartridges sealed against leaks during transport.
Charity by charity
24 mentions-
Can't accept
Ardgowan Hospice category-wide rule
Whole "electrical items" category listed as currently not accepted.
Their wording
“Currently we CANNOT accept: -Toys, large furniture or electrical items.”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Printer ink cartridges”
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Can't accept
Claire House Children's Hospice category-wide rule
Blanket exclusion of electrical items, though brand-new factory-sealed hard drives, SD cards or USB sticks are excepted.
Their wording
“Electrical items”
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Can't accept
Cransley Hospice Trust category-wide rule
Listed under 'Unfortunately, we are unable to accept some items' ('Electrical items, Kitchen equipment and utensils, Used baby equipment including car seats and prams/pushchairs, Bikes') with no exceptions stated.
Their wording
“Electrical items”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Printers and ink cartridges”
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Can't accept
Hospice at Home Carlisle and North Lakeland category-wide rule
Applies to all electrical items
Their wording
“Electrical and medical items”
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Can't accept
Katharine House Hospice, Banbury category-wide rule
Listed under 'Unfortunately, we're unable to accept' on the shop donations page.
Their wording
“Electrical items or any furniture.”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Computer equipment, ink cartridges, video tapes or cassette tapes, DVDs and mobile phones.”
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Can't accept
St John's Hospice (London) category-wide rule
Applies to all electrical items
Their wording
“Electrical items”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Used printer cartridges”
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Can't accept
St Raphael's Hospice category-wide rule
Stated on the Our Shops page for shop/Donation Centre drop-off. The separate Furniture Collections page still refers to collecting 'large items of furniture or electrical items' via its home-collection service, so this blanket refusal may be specific to walk-in shop donations rather than the large-item collection route.
Their wording
“We are no longer accepting any electrical items or pet toys, sorry for any inconvenience caused.”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Computer equipment, ink cartridges, video and cassette tapes, mobile phones”
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Can't accept
Their wording
“Ink cartridges”
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Check first
Printers and ink cartridges only accepted if brand new.
Their wording
“Printers or Printer ink cartridges (unless brand new)”
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Check first
Accepted via a separate mail-in scheme (call 0800 091 0696 for Freepost envelopes), not as a general in-shop drop-off item
Their wording
“old inkjet cartridges can raise cash for PDSA”
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Check first
Only home inkjet cartridges accepted for recycling; toner cartridges/cassettes no longer accepted as they are classed as hazardous waste
Their wording
“Printer cartridges - Home inkjet, full or empty”
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Check first
Save the Children category-wide rule
Exception: accepted at selected stores — donors are told to check first.
Their wording
“We're unable to accept electrical goods (except in selected stores - please check first)”
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Check first
St Mary's Hospice category-wide rule
Listed as a standalone bullet within the 'Electrical Items' section of the main donation guidance page — electrical items without a CE mark are implied to be refused.
Their wording
“Must have CE mark”
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Check first
Used ink cartridges accepted for their recycling scheme; laser and toner cartridges are refused.
Their wording
“Donate used ink cartridges at any of our seven shops to raise funds for The Shakespeare Hospice. Please note – we cannot accept laser and toner cartridges.”
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Check first
Only accepted via the Recycle 4 Charity ink-cartridge mail-in recycling scheme (linked from the FAQ), not as a general in-shop drop-off donation.
Their wording
“Yes! We’re registered with Recycle 4 Charity. Click here to donate your unwanted cartridges and support the hospice.”
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Accepted
Ink cartridges collected specifically for recycling.
Their wording
“We want you to dig out your old mobile phones, ink cartridges and other unwanted items and drop them off at Derian!”
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Accepted
Their wording
“Foreign coins, stamps, old mobile phones and toner cartridges”
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Accepted
Their wording
“mobile phones and used printer cartridges”
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Accepted
Their wording
“Mobile phones and used printer cartridges.”
Not mentioned in 129 charities' guidance
Absence from a charity's list doesn't mean they accept it — it just isn't singled out. Ask your local shop.
- Accord Hospice
- Acorns Children's Hospice
- Age UK
- Ashgate Hospicecare
- Ayrshire Hospice
- Barnardo's
- Barnsley Hospice
- Bolton Hospice
- British Heart Foundation
- British Red Cross
- Butterfly Hospice Trust
- Butterwick Hospice
- Cancer Research UK
- Children's Hospice South West
- Children's Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS)
- Cornwall Hospice Care
- Crisis
- DEBRA
- Dogs Trust
- Dorothy House
- Douglas Macmillan Hospice
- Dr Kershaw's Hospice
- East Lancashire Hospice
- Eden Valley Hospice and Jigsaw, Cumbria's Children's Hospice
- Ellenor
- Emmaus
- FARA Charity Shops
- Farleigh Hospice
- Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity
- Forget Me Not Children's Hospice
- Garden House Hospice Care
- Great Oaks Hospice
- Great Western Air Ambulance Charity
- Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice
- Heart of Kent Hospice
- Helen & Douglas House
- Highland Hospice
- Hospice in the Weald
- Hospice Isle of Man
- Hospice of the Good Shepherd
- Hospice of the Valleys
- Jersey Hospice Care
- Julia's House
- Katharine House Hospice (Stafford)
- Keech Hospice Care
- KEMP Hospice
- Lewis-Manning Hospice Care
- Lindsey Lodge Hospice
- Longfield Community Hospice
- LOROS Hospice
- Marie Curie
- Mountbatten Isle of Wight
- Moya Cole Hospice
- Nightingale House Hospice
- North Devon Hospice
- North London Hospice
- Nottinghamshire Hospice
- Octavia Foundation
- Oxfam
- Pendleside Hospice
- Pilgrims Hospices
- Primrose Hospice
- Princess Alice Hospice
- Prospect Hospice
- Queenscourt Hospice
- Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People
- Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care
- Rotherham Hospice
- Rowans Hospice
- Royal Trinity Hospice (London)
- Saint Francis Hospice
- Salvation Army (SATCoL)
- Samaritans
- Scope
- Sense Scotland
- Severn Hospice
- Shaw Trust
- Shelter
- Shooting Star Children's Hospices
- Sobell House Hospice
- Southern Hospice Group
- Springhill Hospice
- St Andrew's Hospice (Lanarkshire)
- St Barnabas Hospice (Lincolnshire)
- St Catherine's Hospice (Crawley)
- St Catherine's Hospice (Lancashire)
- St Christopher's Hospice
- St Clare Hospice
- St Columba's Hospice
- St Cuthbert's Hospice
- St David's Hospice Care
- St Giles Hospice
- St Helena Hospice
- St John's Hospice (Lancaster, Morecambe, Kendal & Garstang)
- St Luke's Cheshire Hospice
- St Luke's Hospice (Harrow & Brent)
- St Luke's Hospice Basildon & Thurrock
- St Luke's Hospice Plymouth
- St Luke's Hospice, Sheffield
- St Margaret's Hospice Care (Somerset)
- St Nicholas Hospice Care
- St Oswald's Hospice
- St Peter & St James Hospice
- St Peter's Hospice
- St Richard's Hospice
- St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP)
- St Vincent's Hospice
- St Wilfrid's Hospice
- Sue Ryder
- The Children's Trust
- The Kirkwood
- The Myton Hospices
- The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice
- The Prince of Wales Hospice
- Traid
- Treetops Hospice Trust
- Trinity Hospice (Blackpool)
- Tynedale Hospice at Home
- Wakefield Hospice
- Wales Air Ambulance
- Weldmar Hospicecare
- Willen Hospice
- Willow Burn Hospice
- Willow Wood Hospice
- Willowbrook Hospice
- Wirral Hospice St John's
- Wisdom Hospice
- Woking & Sam Beare Hospices
- YMCA (England & Wales)