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Thinking of disposing that boneyard of old computer equipment and electronics sitting in that dark back office? Turning it into curbside garbage is not a solution as acid from batteries, lead from CRT monitors, along with mercury, cadmium and a host of harmful chemicals could easily leach into the environment. So what are your options?
Donate it! That old PC may be slow to you but can certainly find new life as a much needed word processing machine for a schoolhouse. Find a PC recycler by visting www.techsoup.org, then hit the “Find Services” tab at the top. On the next page, click the “Donate Hardware” link found in the Recycled Hardware box. Punch in your zip code and it will list local agencies that will reclaim your PCs for donations. You’ll also notice it may also give you agencies that will properly dispose unusable equipment.
If you indeed have non-working equipment and you didn’t find an agency here, your best bet is visiting Web sites of original manufacturers such as Dell, HP, IBM, Apple and others. They all have programs that offer to recycle old equipment for free if you happen to be buying a new machine from them or for a small fee if not. If you have a bulk pile of mish mash parts and don’t want to bother with making several calls, try www.pcdisposal.com.
A service like PCDisposal does offer to erase data from drives but you certainly do it yourself, which I would recommend since you want to be absolutely sure. Check out the following free drive scubbing utilities: www.dban.org and www.killdisk.com/eraser.htm.
So how about your personal electronics such as old phones, TVs, DVD players, etc? Retail chain Best Buy offers free recycling of most small electronics such as cell phones and music players using drop-off kiosks at stores and hold regular weekend recycling events at stores for larger items like TVs, printers, computers, monitors and faxes. Check out www.bestbuy.com/recycling for all the details.
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