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Sparkle (3)
Give new life to your old devices this holiday season.
Like many families, we have a gadget drawer, which recently morphed into a gadget closet, bursting with random cables and power cords, prehistoric gadgets, archaic mobile phones, old-school PDAs (remember the Palm Pilot?) and obsolete computers the size of baby elephants. So, before we whipped out the wallets this Christmas for our next “gotta have it” gadget, my husband and I agreed that these old devices deserve an afterlife.
Image Credit: D'Arcy Norman
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that over 200 million pieces of computer parts are being generated annually — and growing. Yet, only 18 percent is being recycled, leaving over 150 million pieces of equipment (e-waste) in our landfills every year. I’ve seen how toxic this waste can be if it isn’t managed properly, so I did some digging and learned how to do it safely.
Generally, we have three options: sell, donate, recycle. Craigslist and eBay are great options for selling, but it’s too time-consuming for our crazy busy family, so we’ve opted to donate some and recycle the rest.
Donate: Giving Back One Device at a Time
My husband and I both work in the computing industry, where innovation happens fast. As soon as we bring home a new device, technology advancements lure us to the next shiny object. So most of the gadgets we have in our household are still considered current and can easily be donated to charity.
My favorite charity is Goodwill Industries, and we make a run at least twice a year. I recently learned that Dell partnered with Goodwill to develop the Reconnect Program, which fosters responsible e-waste recycling by keeping electronics out of landfills and preventing them from being dumped overseas. The program also goes a long way to create green jobs, provides training and educational programs, and helps employ people with disabilities or other barriers to employment. Dell says the Reconnect Program offers more than 2,000 donation locations for all kinds of used computer equipment and they accept any brand in any condition, including just about any computing peripheral. You can get a firsthand look at your impact by using the “Calculate Your Impact” tool located on the Goodwill site. I checked, and donating a working computer to this program amounts to 6.9 hours of training and education for someone in need. If you itemize your taxes, you may also be eligible for a tax deduction through qualified programs. Check with your certified tax specialist to get details if this is the route you go.
Other charity options include Recycle for Charities, an eco-friendly site with a “give back” mantra. Just round-up your donation (old cell phones, PDAs, iPods, digital cameras, etc.), select your charity, print out the ready-made shipping label and tax donation forms, then ship. Similarly, Close the Gap makes reused and refurbished computers available to underprivileged people in Africa and other developing countries. And Digital Links has distributed more than 50,000 reused computers to the developing world and provided access to technology for over 125,000 people.
Recycling: It’s Easier than You Might Think
All electronics, working or not, should be recycled properly if you decide not to sell or donate them. Throwing away any electronic device is dangerous and hazardous. Most electronics contain significant levels of toxic materials like mercury, lead, sulfur, and silicon and beryllium oxide that may be harmful to the environment, animals living in it, and to us.
As you might imagine, Dell is a big proponent of recycling computers, too, and has a full-page dedicated to the options. From store credits to refurbished PCs, this site gives you many options for doing the right thing. Sony has conveniently located boxes at select store locations and will take your old computer and any of their own products. HP offers a trade-in allowance for new HP products. For Apple products, including iPads, you should always return them directly. Apple will give you a gift card to use at their store with the estimated value of your product. If you live in Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, or Virginia, fill out this request form to participate in Apple’s recycling by mail program. Most of the other leading device manufacturers have some kind of program with benefits, so worth checking them out.
For a one-stop shop, Best Buy accepts most electronics for recycling and will offer a Best Buy gift card for your used video games,
