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Reuse & Recycle – eCycle
Reuse
When you retire your computers, cell phones and other electronics, and pass them onto new users, that's reuse. Donating used electronics for reuse extends the lives of valuable products and maximizes the energy and resources that went into making the products. Reuse is the environmentally preferable alternative and it benefits society. By donating your used electronics, you allow schools, nonprofit organizations, and lower-income families to obtain electronics that they otherwise could not afford.
Before donating your used electronics, make sure that you:
- Copy and transfer needed files or information;
- Remove any personal information from the device or request that the receiving organization remove the data. (For specific instructions on how to erase personal information, consult the manufacturer.); and
- Check with the receiving organization to make sure that they will accept your donation. Some organizations have repair capabilities, whereas others will only accept items that are fully functioning.
Recycle
If you can't reuse, repair, or refurbish the electronic device, the next best thing is to recycle it!
Did You Know?
In 2007, approximately 414,000 tons of electronics were collected in the US for recycling. Recycling this material prevented the release of greenhouse gases equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 178,000 cars.
Electronics consist of valuable resources, such as precious metals, copper, and engineered plastics, all of which require considerable energy to process and manufacture. Recycling electronics recovers valuable materials, conserves virgin resources, and results in lower environmental emissions (including greenhouse gases) than making products from virgin materials. For example:
- Recycling one million desktop computers prevents the release of greenhouse gases equivalent to the annual emissions of 16,000 passenger cars.
- By recycling 100 million cell phones, approximately 7,500 pounds of gold could be recovered - allowing that amount of gold to go into new products.1 Recovering the gold from cell phones, rather than mining it from the earth, would prevent 12,000,000,000 pounds of loose soil, sand, and rock from having to be moved, mined, and processed.2
Finding Donation and Recycling Opportunities
All Plug-In To eCycling partners support electronics collection programs.
Depending on where you live and the amount of equipment you have, the best donation or recycling options may include: a county recycling drop-off center, repair shop, charitable organization, electronics recycling company, your local electronics retailer or the manufacturer. Many communities offer computer and electronics collections as part of household hazardous waste collections, special events, or other arrangements.
To find electronics collection opportunities in your community, check out the following sites:
Earth 911
Earth 911 has a zip code based search engine that enables you to look for recycling options in your community for various products, including electronics. Earth 911 has taken environmental hotlines, Web sites and other information sources nationwide, and consolidated them into one network.My Green Electronics
Provided by the Consumer Electronics Association, this site is a resource for consumers wishing to purchase green products and/or searching for local opportunities to recycle or donate used electronics.
1 US Geological Survey "Recycled Cell Phones - A Treasure Trove of Valuable Metals" (PDF) (4 pp, 323K, about PDF) (July 2006)
2 One metric ton is equivalent to 32,150.7 troy ounces; 4.5 metric tons of gold equals 144,678.15 troy ounces. Assuming there is 0.02 troy ounces per ton or rock3, it will take 50 tons of rock to produce one ounce of gold. To calculate the total tons of rock mined to produce 144,678.15 troy ounces you multiply 144,678.15 x 50 = 7,233,907 tons.