Clear your conscience, recycle old electronics
By Matt Jansen
With all of the buzz about global warming it’s easy to forget other simple ways we can improve the environment. Old electronics take a long time to decompose here are some recycling options to keep that gear out of our landfills and some of them are free.
Top on the list are companies that accept old electronics at no charge. Apple provides a recycling program that accepts iPods and cell phones from any manufacturer. If you turn in an old iPod when buying a new one they’ll even take 10% off the purchase price.
Apple markets its green attitude online by saying “[we take] a holistic view of recycling and waste minimization. We apply this philosophy from the outset, beginning in the design stage by creating compact, ultra-efficient products that use high-recycling-value materials wherever possible.”
Below is a graph Apple provides showing equipment weight recycled as a percent of past sales.
Sony, Dell, and Motorola also offer recycling programs with varying requirements.
But, if you’d prefer to pay a little bit for a recycling service that accepts any kind of old electronics, check out GreenDisk (not an affiliate link). According to its web site, GreenDisk “handles all your technotrash disposal needs from a CD to a PC and just about everything in between”.
The company operates by shipping a “technotrash can” to your address which you then ship back full of old equipment. Prices start at about $50 for a 70 pound can and goes up from there.
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January 2nd, 2008
Hi I work at Dell on environment and recyclng issues — saw this post today- it’s a great time of year to remind consumers not to throw away used electronics indeed.
You said a good deal about Apple but wanted to point out that Dell offers consumers worldwide free recycling for any Dell branded equipment at any time, and in many cases home pick up is included for free. We also recycle other manufacturer brands for free with purchase of a new Dell.
Thanks – any questions about Dell programs just let me know