You don’t really want to picture your gigantic dinosaur of a computer sitting in a landfill, do you? No, you’re a savvy green enthusiast who wants to repurpose the computer that served you well during your first job or your online college degree. Never fear, environmentalists! Here are some fantastic ways to recycle your elderly computer.
- See if anyone can use it. Call your relatives. Call the church. Call the Girl Scouts. Call any local organization you can think of that might have a need for your old DOS dinosaur.
- Take it to the Geek Squad. The Best Buy process of recycling goes like this: you load your computer up in your car. You take it to the Best Buy customer service desk. They ask you for $10. They take your computer and give you a $10 gift card. You then get to go shopping.
- Head to the thrift store. You get rid of your computer and you’ll get a handy tax write-off receipt.
- Find a charity or local program. Try Computers for Charities or Computer Aid.
- Check with your manufacturer. Rather than see their older products go to waste, many leading computer manufacturers are leading computer recycle programs.
- Try your local computer shop. They may be able to strip your computer and use it for parts– and you may even get a small amount in return.
Remember to never throw a computer away. We don’t need any more aging computers taking up room in our landfills. Just remember to erase your data before you recycle.
