Check out the full list of what staples accepts now part of their expanded recycling programs.
https://www.staples.com/stores/recycling#workingtowardsabrightertomorrow
More companies should start to follow staples lead and offer return points for packaging and products that reach their end of life.
It’s a lot empty marketing.
I don’t live in or near a big city centre. I’m in the middle of nowhere in northern Ontario. But I have many friends who live in the Hamiton / Norfolk area in southern Ontario.
I talked to two of my friends recently who were all excited about this because they were able to ‘recycle’ their old phones and laptops and tablets. I know what devices they were talking about because I had been the tech person years ago to repair, reformat, fix and renew them in the past.
They ‘recycled’ an old iphone 7 for $10 … an old thinkpad laptop for $20 and a few other similar items for less than $50 each … all working devices that are bought and sold used online for about $100 each.
Or devices that could be used, especially laptops that could be formated and installed with Linux and then handed over to a kid or teen who just wants to go online.
I was completely shocked when they told me all this … I told them I could have bought them and used them myself. I’m even more shocked at the idea that there are thousands of units like this everywhere either being thrown away or sold for nothing.
Its a good point, reuse is always better then recycling. But if we can reduce the amont of trash being sent to landfills that would have not been reused and help recycle it, this would be a win IMO.
Most glass bottles for example can be reused, but get a dollar to promote it being recyclable is better then not getting anything and sending it to the landfill.
10 dollars for a old phone in your pocket is better then you paying out of your pocket in taxes for local garbage and litter collection.
I think also worth noting is the 10$ for the phone is the “material cost”, the cost of the gold, silver, copper. Its not the “intrinsic value” of the phone, as the phone is not being resold, but in a ideal world being torn apart to build a new one.
I don’t think there’s much overlap between the stuff being taken to staples to be recycled and what would’ve ended up being reused. It isn’t worth the time, pain in the ass and shipping cost to list a lot of the stuff I need to get rid of. I just want it gone in the least harmful most convenient way possible.
I’m with you in spirit and practice; most of my tech stuff I pick up second hand. It’s pretty easy to get good stuff for cheap-ish once it’s a year or two old.
I’ve done exactly what you’ve said; I had a couple old laptops in the garage, so I installed Linux and gave them to friends who didn’t have desktops or laptops.
However, not everyone thinks like us tech scavengers, and people who want new stuff all the time outnumber us by a huge margin. So, while these programs aren’t the best, it beats the landfill.