Our basement bedroom has a huge desktop computer that we never, ever touch — except to dust. Why are we keeping it? A recent CNET survey found that nearly a third of us are hoarding old electronics, because figuring out how to get rid of them feels like a huge pain. But you can’t just toss them in the trash. It’s terrible for the environment and might even be illegal. The good news is that recycling your e-waste is ridiculously easy, and you don’t even have to find a special recycling center.
Seriously, just take it to Best Buy or Staples. They’ll take your old laptops, printers, and other tech junk off your hands for free. Some places will even give you a gift card for your trouble. It’s the easiest way to finally clear out that closet and do the bare minimum for the planet.
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Clearing out used tech not only frees up space in your home, but also keeps harmful components out of landfills. So if you’ve been holding onto gear you haven’t used in years, now’s the time to let it go the right way.
Here’s what you need to know about recycling your old tech. For more, learn how to recycle your old phones.
What to do before you recycle your old computer
Wherever you take or mail in your items to be recycled, you’ll want to protect your data by removing it as best you can. One way to do this is to perform a factory reset on your computer. Our guide walks you through the process.
Where to recycle your old printers and computers
Some retail stores will accept computers and printers for recycling, but it’s not always a free service. Policies vary by company.
Apple
You can recycle your old Apple computers, monitors and peripherals, such as printers, for free at an Apple store, but there’s a costly catch. According to the Apple Free Recycling program, you must purchase a qualifying Apple computer or monitor to receive this service. Need another option? A third-party company called Gazelle buys old MacBooks to recycle them. After accepting Gazelle’s offer, you print a prepaid label or request a prepaid box and ship the machine to them.
Read more: Phone and Laptop Repair Goes Mainstream With Push From iFixit
Best Buy
Best Buy generally accepts up to three household items per household per day to be recycled for free, including desktop computers and printers, as well as other items ranging from e-readers to vacuum cleaners. While three is the limit for most items, there’s a higher limit for laptops — Best Buy will take five of those per household per day. Note that rules for dropping off monitors vary by state, and it’s not always free to do so. Best Buy also offers a mail-in recycling service for select items, but that’s also not free. A small box that holds up to 6 pounds costs $23, while a large box (up to 15 pounds) costs $30. One CNET editor recently lugged in an old, nonworking tube TV-VCR combo for e-cycling, and was happy to pay $30 to be rid of it.
Office Depot
Office Depot and OfficeMax merged in 2013. The retailers offer a tech trade-in program both in-store and online where you may be able to get a store gift card in exchange for your old computers and printers. If the device has no trade-in value, the company will recycle it for free. Office Depot also sells e-waste recycling boxes that you can fill with electronics to be recycled and then drop off at the stores, but they aren’t free. The small boxes cost $8.39 and hold up to 20 pounds, the medium ones cost $18.29 and hold up to 40 pounds, and the large boxes cost $28 and hold up to 60 pounds.
Staples
You can bring your old desktop computers, laptops, printers and more to the Staples checkout counter to be recycled for free, even if they weren’t purchased there. According to a Staples rep, the retailer also has a free at-home battery recycling box which has led customers to recycle thousands of batteries per week, up from an earlier average of 50 per week. Here’s a list of everything that can be recycled at Staples.
Read more: How to Factory Reset a MacBook, Windows Laptop or Chromebook
Where to find electronics recycling centers
If you don’t live near a major retailer or would rather take your computers and printers to a recycling center, you can locate places near you by using search tools provided by Earth911 and the Consumer Technology Association.
Earth911
Use the recycling center search function on Earth911 to find recycling centers near your ZIP code that accept laptops, desktops and printers. Note that the results may also turn up places that accept mobile phones and not computers or printers, so you may have to do a little filtering.
Greener Gadgets
Consult the Consumer Technology Association’s Greener Gadgets Recycle Locator to find local recycling centers in your area that will take old items. The search function also allows you to filter the results to separately hunt for places that take computers versus printers.
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