Virtual Reality? The Online Electronic Recycling Resources

In many ways, it comes as no surprise, but it is at extreme convenience that the Internet-fueled world can calculate almost anything instantly. Going on a road trip and want to know the fastest route? Use an online map service. Interested in employment with a company? Learn its history with one look at its homepage. On a quest to recycle your old electronic item but you don’t know where to start? Use 1800recycling.com’s recycling database.

With so many directions, numbers and directories, the only thing the Internet could be accused of missing is focus. Google search is only as good as the sites providing their content. Thanks to the expanding interest in all things green, there are direct resources to answer almost any questions.

Perhaps the most perplexing problem that a first-time electronic recycler runs into is not where to go or what to do, but what constitutes an electronic and who to turn to if there is a gray area.

As far as lists, Electronic Recyclers International, for example, gives a full list of what is accepted for its advanced e-waste shredding system. Here is the comprehensive list:

• Televisions
• Monitors
• Laptops
• Plasmas
• LCDs
• Printers
• Fax machines
• Cell phones
• Keyboards
• Mice
• Stereo equipment
• Network equipment
• Servers
• Telecom equipment
• DVD players
• Copy machines
• All business/office electronics
• Medical equipment with NO biohazards
• White goods (major appliances)
• Light bulbs
• Batteries

After determining that, yes, that old Yamaha keyboard is electronic waste, just what the recycler makes out of all of the old stuff is definitely of note. But, what seems like a surely complicated compilation is really a short and simple list: metals, plastic and glass.

As for where to take e-waste and more online sources, a past article about recycling electronics answered the all-important question: Now, where can e-waste be taken?

Everyone from government-operated agencies to retailers are taking e-waste. But, not all e-waste is created equal. Getting rid of a cell phone is different than recycling an iPod or a TV. Unless bought at the same store, chances are there is a different place for each. But, luckily, there are some exceptions. Here are the retail characters that will allow you to cheat, if you will: Apple, Best Buy, Office Depot and Staples all have e-waste recycling programs for items bought at their stores.

But, before you lug your laptop or pick up your phone and take it down to its original location, be sure to do the homework — some stores only take certain items back. Still stuck? Search 1800 Recycling’s database of recycling locations across the U.S. Simply type in the category of waste or the ZIP code you where you need the services.

Still, if anything about the process confuses, www.ecyclingtools.com lays out the process in easy-to-follow tabs that conveniently hold information for each step of the process using the same Web page. From purchase, to regulations, to disposing, the site can do everything but drive.

Now that is a sure-fire successful quest to be greener!