When most people think of recycling they think about those little bins you put on the curb each week that come and get picked up. They generally contain aluminum cans, plastic containers, glass bottles, and maybe some cardboard. This is only a small portion of all the items that you can actually recycle.
Why Recycle Electronics?
A lot of people do not realize the toxic chemicals that are often floating around inside of most electronics. There are sharp metals, wires, and even dangerous chemicals like mercury that are used in order to make-up certain electronic devices that we love to acquire, but have no idea what to do with them once we are finished.
It is never a good idea to just toss these old electronics in the garbage. Electronics that go into landfills are often shattered or crushed. This allows all of those hazardous materials to leak out of the unit and seep into the ground and infect the soil and even possibly the water. This could not only potentially cause harm to humans, but it is terrible for the environment and any other type of living creature that may happen upon these toxins.
What are the Options?
Throwing your old electronics in the trash is just one of the many options that you have when you are considering getting rid of them. Depending on the age you may be able to sell them on sites such as Ebay.com. People will often purchase older items in working condition for parts. It will most likely not make you a fortune, but it will get it out of your house and maybe make you a few dollars.
You can sell to a recycling plant. Depending on the plant you may be able to make a few dollars based on the type of old electronic device. Certain devices contain metals such as silver, copper, and even gold and recycling plants will pay for these items. The device may also be purchased because it is in good working condition and can be used for parts in order to repair other item. This will not make you a millionaire, but it will help you get rid of the device, make you a few dollars, and help you avoid the hassle of shipping it like Ebay.com would require.
Simply recycle it.
You may not be able to get any money for it, so simply just give it to the recycling people. You do not have to worry about killing off cute little wildlife and it gets it out of your house. Some facilities such as Simple e Waste will even come and pick it up for you so you do not have the hassle of tracking down a facility to dispose of the electronics to be recycled.
There are a lot of facilities that will take care of your old electronics. They will offer to repair older electronics as a way of encouraging you to hold on to your electronics for as long as possible. There are recycling options where they will pay or simply accept older electronics in order to recycling them in an environmentally friendly manner or use them for parts. The electronics recycling center may come across electronics that they can not use for parts or recycle, and if this is the case then they will simply destroy it and dispose of it in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
There are a lot of reasons for why someone would want to upgrade or change from using an old electronic device. Do the responsible thing and make sure it is disposed of properly.
Author Bio: The article is drawn by Jason Phillips who is a guest blogger and an enthusiast. His website is related to recycled products and going green with recycling. He newly added simplehuman recycling bins for sale at his site.