Whether you have an old phone languishing in a desk drawer or a broken laptop gathering dust in the back of a closet, there will never be a better time to dispose of it. There’s a good chance your unwanted gadget can return to useful service, and it may even make you a little cash or help someone else. Recycling should be the last resort, but if there’s nothing else for your gadget, there are ways to recycle electronics responsibly.
Global e-waste topped 50 million metric tons in 2019, according to the United Nations Global E-Waste Monitor, and just 17.4 percent of that waste was collected and recycled. Too many old electronics end up in landfills and hellish e-waste graveyards where they poison communities. The problem is only growing worse. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) forum estimates that 5.3 billion phones dropped out of use last year alone. Governments, companies, and people are waking up to the fact that we must do better. The big question is, how? Here are some resources, services, and ideas that can help.
Updated October 2023: We added suggestions for repurposing old devices, recycling cables, and information about the e-Stewards program.
Before you throw devices away, consider using them for a little longer. Do you really need to upgrade? Perhaps you can repurpose your old device to squeeze more life from it. You might turn that old phone into a webcam, for example. If you are dead set on shopping for a new device, do your research to find ethical and ecofriendly electronics. Look for manufacturers and retailers with trade-in and recycling programs.
Consider buying products used on eBay or other marketplaces, or look for refurbished gadgets. Manufacturers like Apple and Samsung offer refurbished devices at a discount, and you can find loads of refurbished goods at Amazon. Elizabeth Chamberlain, director of sustainability at iFixit, recommends Back Market for refurbished phones.
Passing devices onto family members, friends, and neighbors who can use them is the best way to squeeze maximum value out of them. “Don’t let devices hibernate in a junk drawer or closet and waste away,” says Jeff Seibert, who works at SERI (Sustainable Electronics Recycling International). “Get them into someone else’s hands who can use them as quickly as possible because the older devices get, the less positive impact they can make.”
If you don’t know anyone who can use your old electronics, try the Freecycle Network or local Buy Nothing groups to find folks interested in freebies.
Whether you plan to squeeze a bit more out of a device, want to pass it along to someone, or plan on selling it, repairing or refurbishing it first is a smart move. If you want to try and repair a device, iFixit is a great place to start. It boasts more than 90,000 step-by-step repair guides covering phones, tablets, laptops, computers, game consoles, and cameras.
YouTube is another great place to find repair videos, and Chamberlain recommends checking out repair techs like Louis Rossmann, Jessa Jones, Ben’s Appliances and Junk, and Rich Rebuilds, but there is no shortage of repair videos for the specific gadget you're looking for.
To meet repair experts face-to-face and learn how to fix your own gadgets, look for a repair café in your area. These local pop-up events offer free advice and knowledge exchange from expert repairers to help people in the neighborhood get stuff fixed. Instead of dropping devices off for repair, you sit with the expert and learn how to troubleshoot for yourself. The Restart Project is a good resource for folks in the UK looking to repair or donate devices.
One thing to be mindful of when attempting to repair a phone, laptop, or another device with a battery inside is to drain the battery before you open it up. For repairs on major white-good appliances, rubber gloves, and rubber-soled boots can minimize the risk of getting shocked.
If you lack the confidence to attempt repairs, you can likely find a good local repair shop by reading reviews. The Federal Trade Commission found that independent repair shops have the same success rate and safety record as manufacturer shops. Many manufacturers have discouraged repairs with the threat of warranty voiding, but victories for the Right to Repair movement have led to tech getting slightly more repairable.
Just be careful to back up and protect sensitive data on your devices before handing them in at repair shops. Some devices might even have a built-in solution. For example, Samsung phone owners can activate Maintenance Mode before handing a device off to ensure that photos and accounts can’t be accessed.
You can make some money if you sell old devices. Even broken devices can be sold for parts, though you will always command a higher fee if you clean and repair them first. You can also score a discount off something new with trade-in or buyback schemes. We have guides on how to sell or trade-in your iPhone (remember to factory reset it first) and how to sell your smartwatch or fitness tracker.
You can generally command the highest fees by selling directly to people through eBay, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or Nextdoor. Just remember that you will need to arrange delivery or meet up to exchange the goods, and buyers often like to haggle.
For a hassle-free sale, consider places like Swappa, DeCluttr, or GadgetPickup. These kinds of buyers use online questionnaires to determine a price and often provide free postage. Shop around and see who offers the best price, but be honest in your descriptions, or you may find that your quote gets reduced after inspection.
Take-back or trade-in programs are another easy option, though you probably won’t make as much as you would through a sale, and often you might get your fee as store credit. Best Buy, Amazon, Verizon, Samsung, Walmart, and many others offer trade-ins on electronics.
If you like the idea of your old electronics doing some good, consider donating them to worthy causes. Chamberlain says Goodwill is one of the best options because the company has a strong reuse hierarchy and aims to get as much as it can out of electronics before recycling them. You can also find local charities that accept electronics through Donation Town.
Cell Phones for Soldiers is a nonprofit that sends overseas troops prepaid mobile phones so they can stay in touch with loved ones. Recycle Health is another nonprofit that collects fitness trackers and gives them to underserved populations to encourage fitness.
Some of the places we have already mentioned will recycle devices that can't be reused, and it's worth checking to see whether the original manufacturer of your device has a recycling scheme. Most major manufacturers, including Apple, Google, and Samsung, will recycle your old devices, and Apple will take old Lightning cables if you're making the switch to USB-C. Retailers like Best Buy and Staples will also accept and recycle your old phones, laptops, cables, and other electronics.
Local facilities that handle electronics for reuse and recycling sometimes have community drop-off events, Seibert says, and local municipalities often have electronics collections once or twice a year, so it’s worth looking to see whether there are any scheduled in your area.
Sadly, not all recycling centers and schemes are equal. The e-Stewards certification program is focused on the responsible management of end-of-life electronics (Staples is a partner) and aligns with the Basel Convention requirements for the transboundary movement of electronic waste and components. The NAID AAA Certification and either ISO 14001 or RIOS Certification are prerequisites to being e-Stewards certified. It conducts unannounced inspections and uses GPS trackers to test partners and ensure materials are responsibly managed at every stage. You can use its global interactive map to find certified partners and locations to drop off old electronics.
Another option is SERI, which administers the R2 Standard to set best practices for protecting the environment, worker health and safety, and natural resources. An R2 Certified facility will ensure any used electronics are processed responsibly, including any residual data on devices. While most aren’t set up for consumer drop-off, there is a search tool to filter for those that are.
You can also find a long list of international e-waste recycling links at iFixit, check out Call 2 Recycle for batteries, and find recycling locations through Earth 911.
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