How To Recycle Electronics – A Beginners Guide

This is a guide on how to recycle electronics. It is important not to simply throw away your electronics. Not only is recycling electronics good for the enviornment, but when you toss electronics in the trash, landfills become exposed to toxics inside the products. Electronics don’t belong in landfills.

If you are trying to determine how to recycle your electronics, a good first step is to find a responsible recycler. Many recyclers will only export your old gadgets and dump them in developing nations. That isn’t a solution to the problem of electronic waste in landfills. The toxic components will hurt the people in these nearby nations and compound our world’s environmental problems. You should try to find out how to recycle your electronic devices responsibly. Choose companies that do not export waste to developing countries and do not place items into landfills.

 How to Recycle Electronics that Can be Reused

If your product is in good enough condition to be reused, donate it to a respectable reuse organization. This is the proper way to  reuse electronics. Reputable companies won’t export goods for reuse unless they are fully functional, ensuring that they are being handled properly. Another way to reuse electronics is by using the manufacturer’s takeback program. Many companies that produce electronics will recycle your old gadgets for free, and some may offer money back or trade-in value for your efforts.

How to Recycle Electronics at the store

Sometimes it is difficult to find a store close by to you that recycles electonics easily and responsibly. If you can’t find a convenient location, you can often go to the local retail store to responsibly recycle electronics. Staples office supply takes back many electronics products free of charge because of their partnership with HP. A single customer can drop off a maximum of six products a day. Best Buy takes back electronics at every store they have, including televisions.

If you are looking into how to recycle electronic  hand held devices, cell phone recycling is an easy thing to look into as well, because you can mail them back for free to many recyclers. Oftentimes you can find a recycler online where you can request a free UPS shipping label. Some have a buy back program where you can receive money back for your old phone.

Finally, before recycling a device with data on it, learn how to recycle electronics safely. Before you can recycle your computer, you must erase your data from its hard drive. Make sure that you don’t just erase the files, you need to clean the hard drive so that it can’t be recovered by anyone else. Some recyclers do this for for an extra charge, or you can use free software that overwrite your data, like Active@KillDisk and Softpedia DP Wiper. Recycling electronics is good for the environment, can save you money, and is good for the health of the human beings around us. Taking the time to be more thoughtful with your old devices is surely worth it.

Source: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/10-ways-to-recycle-that-old-computer.html

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