Recycle Old Electronics and Make Some Green
Posted on August 11, 2008 by
My husband upgraded his phone and gave me his old one, so even though technically there was nothing wrong with my old phone (except that it couldn’t send e-mail) I now have a new (to me) phone. And even though my new phone was a hand-me-down, I’m carrying a little eco-guilt about upgrading when I didn’t absolutely need to (although, did I mention that I can now approve website comments where ever I go?).
So what do I do with the old phone? Wisebread has a good answer!
Xin Lu (one of my favorite Wisebread writers) has an article about Gazelle, a website that helps you turn your electronics into cash. Check it out. You can asses the value of everything from cell phones to gaming consoles on their website (without having to sign in or anything) and sell it to them for resale if you’re happy with the cash offered. You can also donate the cash to a charity of your choice, if desired. They promise to wipe out any data that may be left on the items you send in.
Of course you can also donate your cell phone and take the tax deduction.
In all likelihood, I will probably hang on to my old cell phone for awhile as a backup (it’s only worth 9 bucks), so if something happens to my “new” one I can opt to send it out to be fixed instead of buying a new one or going phoneless during the fix. But I plan to root around the house for other old electronics to price out on Gazelle.
How timely, being that I just got a new cell phone today, and I’m also deciding to hold on to the old one for “just in case.”
Thanks for this tip! I have a laptop that’s been sitting in the closet for far too long now because I’m not quite sure whether to sell or recycle.
Sounds like a great site! Another option for recycling phones is to turn them into the phone company. They recycle them and/or donate them.
Steamboat
http://www.steamboatsprings1031.com
I know that they have a recycling drop box for old phones at my AT&T store. I’m not sure if they do it at every location, though.
Shouldn’t your husband have the eco-guilt?
Ha! I’ll let him know.
[...] Tuesday – Recycle Old Electronics and Make Some Green [...]