How do you recycle your old gear?

Usually when I upgrade to a new piece of gear, there is a family member, friend or eBay customer that benefits from my old gear. However, sometimes I hold on to stuff so long that it’s just not really worth the effort of trying to sell or pass down. I’ve been guilty in the past of just tossing old outdated electronics in the trash. However, this year I wanted to start doing the right thing by recycling my ancient stuff. Luckily someone posted a message on my user group’s bulletin board about a “recycling event” nearby where you could just drive up with all your unwanted gear and they would take it off your hands. Although I had a million things going on that weekend, I said to myself “when am I going to get another chance like this to dump all this stuff that’s just taking up space?” So I loaded up the back of the SUV and headed over to the lot on a rainy Saturday morning. 

There was a semi truck and a team of people unloading people’s cars. The whole process was painless! I left with a warm fuzzy green feeling about the whole thing and vowed never to just toss electronics again. From here on out I would dispose of my gear properly. If you’re looking for your local electronics recycling place, here’s a good site to start with.

 

The scary truth about the electronics and computers we discard

In a perfect world our old gear is recycled responsibly. However, where there is a buck to be made, there will be corruption and laws broken. Check out this scary video about the reality of the recycling underworld:



Also check out this Popular Mechanics article: Recycling Myths Debunked – Interest Recycling Facts.

8 Replies to “How do you recycle your old gear?”

  1. I’m an IT worker living in the UK. Computers and peripherals are now classed as hazardous waste over here so their disposal is regulated. We can’t drop things in the trash and we have to take them to designated recycling centres. At work we have to provide a full audit trail for the disposal of equipment.

  2. Terry,

    What makes you certain that the truck was not a similar “service” like the one in 60 minutes show?

    I wouldn’t probably trust anyone who doesn’t have a permanent site to collect from. Mobile semi truck just sounds suspicious …

    Cheers,

    Marek

  3. Freecycle is great too. It is a great way to pass on things that still work even if they are old and don’t suit your purposes any more. There are also people who will take computers that don’t work anymore and part them out and build new computers with the bits.

  4. Marek,
    I never said that I was certain that the truck was not like the one in the 60 minutes clip. However, the service was promoted by my local county government and not some random company.

  5. Adobe NY has a recycle bin for electronics. I’ll bet many companies do, so if you work in a large business, check it out.

  6. Just as a reminder, erase everything on the hard drive that may be used for identity theft. That is not just a reformat, but a utility to write over the files themselves..

    Also if you do the above and donate the computer to a charity, they still have to provide an Operating system to boot the computer. They should be warned. If you provide an Operating software disk, they have to have the original key for it.

  7. Computer Buyback and Recycling Programs aid in reducing the amount of electronics in landfills by refurbishing for reuse or by safely recycling it. Offering recycling, trade in, and buyback programs offer customers a simple way to receive cash for their unwanted technology equipment or, if there is no value, recycle it.

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