| Recycling
your household goods | | |
| Many mobile phone companies and
service providers, including Nextel and Cingular, offer recycling programs.
Ebay's Rethink Project provides
information on how to recycle cell phones, computers, digital cameras and home
audio equipment. Not coincidentally, the online auctioneer also explains how you
can sell your used equipment on its site. Another good source of information is
Earth911.org, which tells how to recycle everything from paper to disposable batteries.
Giving it away
Not
all computers, printers and personal digital assistants are good candidates for
reuse. Many charities will not accept really old computers, that is, computers
with limited processing ability. In addition, they'll want them in working order
and with all the relevant parts intact: central processing unit, monitor, keyboard,
mouse, etc. The National Cristina Foundation, founded in 1984,
takes functioning computers from individuals and businesses and donates them to
training and educational organizations. It started originally when founder Bruce
McMahan donated a computer to his daughter Cristina's special education class.
Charities such as the National Cristina Foundation can be found by searching the
Web using the keyword "computer recycling." Bankrate has compiled a
list of organizations that take old computers and other items. You
can also check with local charities to see whether they can use your equipment.
Of course, if you are donating to a charity, your computer must be in working
order and can't be so old that it can't run the nonprofit's computer software.
It's also a good idea to include all manuals (software and hardware) with the
donation. Schools are another option for computers that can
be used by students. Even old nonfunctioning units may be welcome for vocational
students to practice repair work on. Getting
toned up
Toner and ink cartridges generate a lot of garbage. Every year,
more than 400 million cartridges end up in landfills, and the plastic used in
a typical ink-jet or toner cartridge takes about 1,000 years to decompose, according
to the Recycle for Breast Cancer Web site. Recycle for Breast
Cancer collects e-waste, such as printer and toner cartridges, as well as cell
phones and personal digital devices. For every recycled item donated, the organization
makes a donation to fund breast-cancer research. It even pays for shipping the
items. Some manufacturers, including Epson and Hewlett-Packard,
have national programs to recycle used toner and ink cartridges. Also check your
local office supply store. Staples, for example, has a recycling program for used
printer cartridges. These programs come and go. Your manufacturers'
Web site can give you the latest news on how to recycle your spent cartridges,
or you can drop by your local office supply store and see what programs it has
in place. Finally, you can consider recycling your print
cartridges yourself by refilling them or taking them to an outlet that specializes
in refilling cartridges. Island Ink-Jet is a franchise of more than 200 stores
that refill printer and toner cartridges.
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