Electronics Recycling

Our county offers electronics recycling in the form of “Electric Sundays“.  This upcoming weekend is a scheduled Electric Sunday, and we’re probably going to be recycling quite a bit of electronic equipment.   Dad and I are computer geeks, there’s no denying that, and we have a *lot* of old hardware – most of which is too old to sell or donate, and some of which isn’t even operable.

Recycling logo

Photo Credit: StockMonkeys.com

The EPA recommends eCycling, and some states require it.  Either way, recycling is a good thing, so we try to participate in the county’s programs.

Fairfax County will take most electronics, except one thing: UPS batteries.  Most UPS batteries are lead acid batteries, and they don’t fall under the “electronics” recycling, but under auto batteries, which the various automakers/stores are supposed to exchange for a new one and they are responsible for recycling it.  Our county used to take the batteries under their hazardous household waste program, but no longer.  So, technically, our county doesn’t recycle UPSes any longer.

I had several old UPSs laying around that were no longer working.  The cost to ship the old battery back to the manufacturer is kinds of expensive, making an exchange not very financially feasible.  However, last night, I just recycled 3 old UPSs (and had to buy a new one, but that’s a different story).  Staples offers a recycling program which will take them.  You can bring up to 6 things in per day, which I think is pretty generous.  They’re also not limited to the 10-11 days that our county’s electronics recycling program is.  They only take computer (and related) equipment, but it’s still a good option.

I also got three more (large and heavy) things out of the house 🙂

Total Items out of the house: 251/365

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