Tesco is asking customers to recycle used ink jet cartridges and help raise money for charity.

The supermarket wants customers to use post free envelopes available in stores to send used cartridges to a re-cycling company.

For every cartridge received the re-cycling company will donate �2 to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Tesco's chosen charity of the year.

The charity, which hopes to raise �1.5 million from its relationship with Tesco, helps the 7,500 sufferers of cystic fibrosis in the UK.

The supermarket estimates that the average family uses six cartridges a year - usually in printers attached to home computers.

At present, 90% of these cartridges are thrown away, ending up in land fill sites.

In total, almost 300 million ink jet cartridges are thrown away each year in the UK.