How (Where)-to recycle your old technology for free!
/We all have old tech - wires, batteries, computers, tablets, phones, printers, etc. collecting dust and of no use to us. It’s a waist of space. But instead of just tossing them, lets be smart and recycle our unusable tech!
Juli Clover over at macrumors.com wrote a great comprehensive article on where to recycle your old computer technology. She notes that it’s important to follow your state’s respective rules on recycling. If you just want to just drop off your tech and be done with it at no cost, Apple, Best Buy (they charge a small fee for televisions and monitors), Dell (through Goodwill), Staples all have free drop-off recycling programs. Note: Some of the article’s links were not working. The links in my post work as of the time of publishing. (*Editor’s note: Some of the referenced article’s links were not working at the time of this post’s publishing (or I could not find an alternative source)); hence, some of her references are not provided here. I’ll talk about how to “mail-in” your old tech in a future post.
If you are looking to recycle just your cell phone, cell phone carriers AT&T and T-Mobile (remember Sprint is now part of T-Mobile), provide free cell phone recycling. There is also Call2Recycle. Call2Recycle has drop-off locations nationwide.
Or if you want to do a good deed, Cell Phones for Soldiers will accept any cell phone whether its working or not. They will sell the phones to “refurbishers or recyclers. The proceeds go toward purchasing phone cards for troops so they can call their friends and family back home. To be clear, the phones are not given directly to the soldiers.” I’ll talk about trading in or selling your old tech in a future posting.
WARNING: Remember, unless your phone is absolutely dead, do not forget to wipe your data off of your smartphone or any of your technology before giving it up. Once it’s gone, it’s gone and with it the real possibility that client information may be accessible to a nefarious party if you don’t remove it before you give it to someone else for recycling!
Protect Our Environment, Recycle Your Tech!