Residents are being invited to hand over high-tech rubbish to raise money for the British Red Cross.
The recycling initiative has been devised to turn empty cartridges, toners and unwanted mobile phones into cash to help those in crisis in the Durham and Teesside areas.
Used inkjet cartridges contribute up to 30,000 tonnes of largely non-biodegradable waste in landfill sites.
More than 50 per cent of all homes now have their own computers, printers and fax machines but only five per cent of cartridges are recycled.
A spokesman for the County Durham and Teesside branch of the British Red Cross said yesterday: "To help us alleviate this environmental problem all we ask is for you to fill one of our Freepost Green envelopes with your unused Inkjet Cartridges (Hewlett Packard, Canon, Lexmark) and send them to the Freepost address.''
Each item will generate a £1 donation for the Durham and Teesside Red Cross.
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