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Single-use printer cartridges are one of those things that we, as modern people living in a tech-centric world, must endure. Not only are they expensive, but once drained of their precious ink, the miniature plastic boxes become a blight on the planet. The cost of printer ink can vary significantly depending on the brand you choose, but by all accounts, it’s one of the most expensive liquids on the planet. If you thought gasoline for your vehicle was wallet-busting, sources estimate that printer ink costs over $12,000 per gallon.

According to Evolve Recycling, a leader in collecting and recycling electronic assets (like ink cartridges), somewhere on the order of 1.3 billion are discarded globally every year. If all those cartridges were stacked end to end, they’d stretch around the Earth two times. Of those, a mere 30% are properly recycled. Still, the 300-some million that are recycled add 150 million pounds of weight to landfills, with each one taking anywhere from 500 to 1,000 years to decompose naturally.

Well, the city of Los Angeles is done with the madness regarding these little bits of plastic and is considering a wholesale ban on them. Officials hope that by first educating the masses, then prohibiting single-use cartridges within city limits, they can, in some small part, help reduce the tons of plastic going into landfills. As cartridges break down, they leach microplastics and toxic chemicals into soil and groundwater, subsequently affecting the public’s health.

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In fact, the L.A. City Council is so serious about banning single-use printer cartridges that, during a meeting held in December 2025, it unanimously voted to move forward with a basic framework of what it would look like. Among the bullet points were definitions, who would be impacted by such a law, how the city would enforce compliance, as well as an implementation schedule.

For instance, a printer cartridge is defined as “a consumable unit that holds ink or toner, intended for deposition onto paper, and that is designed for insertion into and connection to a printer.” Meanwhile, a single-use printer cartridge can’t be “collected or recovered through a Printer Cartridge Take-back Program, or cannot be remanufactured, refilled, or reused, or infringes upon intellectual property rights or violates any applicable local, state, or federal law.” 

To be clear, L.A. isn’t specifically targeting printer cartridges as a whole, just the single-use “one and done” types that can’t be refilled or reused through some kind of take-back program. The days when a single cartridge is emptied and tossed away are on the clock, at least in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the printer ink industry really isn’t keen on consumers refilling empty cartridges because, overall, it’s much cheaper to refill than to buy a new one. In fact, manufacturers actively try to prevent this by implementing DRM (Digital Rights Management) solutions via firmware that stop printers from working when third-party cartridges are detected. They’ve also come up with what have become some rather controversial monthly ink “subscription” plans.

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The ban would prohibit retail or online establishments from selling single-use printer cartridges entirely, either separately or as part of a package deal with a new printer. Obviously, this would have a massive economic impact on said establishments that have long sold these items. It wouldn’t go into effect for 12 months after the ordinance was adopted, which will allow the city to roll out a comprehensive education campaign aimed at both retailers and consumers, while also giving retailers time to do what they need to do on the back end, like renegotiate contracts with suppliers and address inventory concerns.

The L.A. Sanitation and Environment would serve as the overarching Designated Administrative Agency. Enforcement of (and appeals over) the ban would be conducted by an Administrative Citation Enforcement program. As currently structured, first-time offenders would receive a $250 fine, while a second violation would raise it to $500, and any subsequent violations would result in a $1,000 fine per offense. All of the money would be deposited into the Citywide Recycling Trust Fund. Of course, this is all subject to change as the proposal moves through the relevant stakeholders.

It’s been suggested that this law is akin to the city’s ban on single-use plastic straws as part of its overall zero-waste plan. Los Angeles does want its citizens to reduce their reliance on single-use products and move towards a more sustainable future that embraces reusable, recyclable products, a goal it hopes to achieve by 2045. Now might be a good time to consider renting a printer (something that’s totally doable) instead.