How And Where To Recycle Household E-Waste.

September 29th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

We all end up with it in our house - old radios, televisions, computers, CFL’s, portable CD players, tape decks - but do you know what to do with it when you are ready to dispose of it? Many communities have made it illegal to dispose of e-waste in your regular trash because of the dangerous chemicals that can be found inside them, which include toxins like lead, cadmium, beryllium oxide, lithium, mercury, sulphur, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). These items need to recycled carefully and safely, and luckily there are different options to look into to make sure it gets done that way:

  • The US Postal Service will recycle, for free, inkjet cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players – without having to pay for postage. They have envelopes in the post office for sending these items.
  • Staples will recycle computers, office technology products, ink and toner cartridges, cell phones and other personal electronics, and rechargeable batteries. Large items cost $10.
  • Retail giant Best Buy recycles e-waste from any manufacturer, and you can bring in 2 items at a time for them to take care of
  • IKEA stores will recycle burnt out CFL lightbulbs
  • Apple Computer will recycle your old computer and monitor for free - with the purchase of any qualifying Apple computer or monitor. However, they will also recycle your cell phone or iPod free of charge with no purchase necessary.
  • Waste Management, the huge trash services company, will recycle fluorescent bulbs, batteries, and other universal wastes with their recycling kits.
  • Office Depot takes back recycling, but charges you for the small, medium or large box that you can fill to the brim with your stuff.
  • Dell Computers will recycle any brand of computer, keyboard, mouse, monitor or printer, and they will pick it up at your home.

With all the different companies willing to recycle your e-waste free of charge, there really is no need to pay for recycling. If you don’t have access to any of the resources listed above and need to find an e-waste recycler in your area, check out websites like E-Cycling Central, Earth 911, the National Recycling Coalition, or Call 2 Recycle. Whatever you do, please don’t just throw e-waste in the trash - it ends up either being burned and the toxic gasses are released into the atmosphere, or it ends up sitting in a landfill where the toxins to slowly leach into our groundwater. Do the right thing and find an e-waste recycler!


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There Are 6 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Allie on 29 September 2008:

    Wow! This is a great list!

  2. Comment by Pam Matas on 29 September 2008:

    Home Depot will take CFLs , also.

  3. Comment by Rene on 29 September 2008:

    Thanks so much, now I know where we can dump those pieces of crap Motorola walkie talkies that we bought last year.

    The key is, we need to stop buying so many useless, short-lived electronic gizmos. So many of them are just JUNK!

  4. Comment by David on 29 September 2008:

    That should be the ultimate goal, yep!

  5. Comment by Jeremy Farber on 29 September 2008:

    PC Recycler applauds any and all efforts to tackle the ever growing problem of electronics recycling. Our country and world needs more efforts like these. Electronics recycling has become an ever growing problem and more work is yet to be done. Check out our upcoming blog that will deal exclusively with data destruction and electronics recycling.

  6. Comment by B. Wilde on 30 September 2008:

    This list alone will do more good than anything else I’ve seen around the “green” topic. There’s a lot of talk about recycling but so few of us do anything - myself included. I’ve always wondered where I could take some of these items and you’ve done all the work for me. Writing is so powerful and you certainly have made a difference with this post.

    BTW - any idea where you can recycle car oil for free?

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