How Do We Dispose of Old Tech?

​This holiday season, many of us will get new devices.  A new iPhone under the tree, an upgraded laptop, a faster router, a larger TV, etc.  New gadgets are great, but what do we do with the old ones we’re replacing? ​

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THE BAD NEWS

• Don’t throw them in the garbage—there are too many toxic materials like lead, mercury, cadmium, and beryllium in the components of our e-waste.  
• So can we put our techno junk in the recycle bin?  Not exactly.  Unfortunately, the recycling trucks don’t take these items. 

THE GOOD NEWS

• The good news is that we can take our old devices to Recycle Ann Arbor’s Drop-Off Station at 2950 Ellsworth Rd.  Recycling our e-waste can keep it from ending up in a landfill.  Recycling and reusing also conserves natural resources that are used in the production of brand new devices. In addition, recyclers can recover the valuable copper, silver, gold, and palladium found in our devices.  
• For a small fee, the Drop-Off Station will accept old (10+ years) and nonworking TVs, computers, phones, monitors, keyboards, and more.  Check their website for items accepted, operating times, and details on fees.
• Best Buy and Staples also recycle old electronics.  See the links for items accepted.
• If our old tech is in working condition and younger than 10 years, Recycle Ann Arbor recommends donating it to the A2 Area Reuse Network.  This group of organizations can help us get our usable devices to those who need them.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

• Sign out of all accounts and erase (or destroy) all hard drives. Reset smart phones, and tablets.  There’s nothing like having our personal and sensitive information in the wrong hands.  
• Remove the laptop battery if it is destined for recycling.  The Drop-Off Station and Staples accept batteries, but they have to be disposed of differently.

THE EVEN BETTER NEWS
It’s a little more work than simply tossing our electronics in the garbage can, but proper disposal is worth it.  We finally have a place to take that ancient iPhone 4 with the cracked screen.  We can now get rid of that slow, dusty PC running Windows 98.  And even more exciting—we can now clear out that drawer with the rat’s nest of unusable, obsolete charging cords!