Tesco toughens up on earning points for ink cartridge recycling

Back in October, I ran this article explaining how to earn some cheap Avios by buying used printer ink cartridges on eBay and sending them to Tesco for recycling, in return for Tesco Clubcard points.

Towards the end of 2012, some people found that Tesco was delaying the credit of cartridges to their account.  It was never clear what was going on, but I got the impression that someone was buying cartridges FROM Tesco’s recycling partner, putting them onto eBay for sale and then people were sending them BACK to the recycling firm in return for points!  (This is only my guess, let me be clear.)

Whatever the problem was, Tesco did eventually give people the points they were due and the recycling scheme continued (and still continues) as it always did.

The new 2013 list of applicable cartridges accepted for recycling has just been released.

Some of the most popular cartridges – especially the HP 364 model – have had their points value reduced from 100 points to 50 points.  This was the most popular cartridge to buy off eBay, unfortunately.

Cartridge recycling is still a great way of getting some value Clubcard points (and therefore Avios or Virgin Flying Club miles) for the cartridges you use at home.  It is not necessarily such a good deal for ‘trading’ them anymore.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 2023)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

EDIT: Applications for this card are temporarily suspended due to IT issues with the British Airways On Business SME loyalty scheme.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.