Repurposing or Recycling Old Electronics 💻♻ DIY in 5 Ep 166

Опубликовано 25 февраля 2022, 18:30

There is tech that we no longer use. We can dust it off and giving it new purpose rather than simply throwing it in the trash, which is bad environment. Whether you decide to donate, resell, exchange for an upgrade or use a professional recycling service, there are some steps you’ll want to take before fully saying goodbye and I’ll walk you through them as well as some great recycling resources for when you are ready to let go.

1:07 Prep your old tech
First, you’ll want to prep your old tech. Back up your data you want to keep, delete anything you don’t. When you delete information, it’s best to completely wipe the hard drive to ensure everything is gone. Here is a step-by-step walkthrough on how to best wipe your drive youtube.com/watch?v=oAUo0fI6V9... Then you’ll want to remove anything you’ve added, like batteries, SIM cards, expanded storage solutions or peripherals.

1:35 Repurpose
Once your device is ready to go, let’s decide where it goes from here. You may choose to sell your old tech - keep in mind your e-waste might be someone else's treasure. If the tech you are getting rid of is still somewhat in demand - old GPUs I’m looking at you, this may be a good option. There are many resale apps and websites available, some that will buy it directly from you or link you up with interested buyers. Here is a video we made on how to prepare your old tech for sale: youtube.com/watch?v=W97an46SVO... If you instead want to donate your used electronics, there are many charities, non-profits, senior centers and hospitals that may take them off your hands. Computers with Causes takes old computers and gives them to people in need. Secure the Call accepts donations of old phones and tablets and gives them to people in need. The are often victims of domestic violence or seniors who need a way to contact 911 emergency services. If you just upgraded to the PS5 and you are no longer using your PS4, call your local hospital and see if they’d like it for their children’s ward. Do you have a kid that might make use of your old tech? Check out this video youtube.com/watch?v=hq8EIxUqAT... on preparing an old phone tablet or laptop for a kid.

2:58 Trade-In
Perhaps a trade-in program may be of interest to you. Some manufacturers and retailers will give you sizable discounts in exchange for old tech. The US Environmental Protection Agency has a listing of manufacturers and retailers with trade-in programs as well as electronics recycling programs.

3:29 Recycling: secure & ecological disposal of e-waste
If you don’t think there’s a demand to resell, trade-in or donate, there are many ways to go through a recycling program. In addition to the EPA’s list, which meets their standards and criteria for properly recycling electronics, there are e-waste companies that specialize in disposing of electronic waste, and some of them will even re-wipe the device for you just in case there was anything you missed when you prepped your device before recycling it. Call2Recycle is a battery and cell phone recycling program. Earth911 and Sustainable Electronics Recycling International are both searchable directories where you can choose the type of item you want to recycle and find a center near you.

Saying goodbye to old tech can be tough, but knowing you are doing it in a sustainable way that will benefit others, makes it all the sweeter. Have you recycled or donated any old tech? Let us know in the comments.
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Kingston brings you DIY in 5, the bite-sized #TechTips show. Tech influencer Trisha Hershberger presents short and sweet snippets of advice on speeding up your system, storage solutions, building PCs, using cloud services, improving your mobile device’s performance, and many more topics.
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