Apartment Therapy Re-Nest | Mail Back Electronic Clutter

Mail Back Electronic Clutter

We have a drawer at home with old cell phones, a camera battery or two and a broken ipod. We could use this drawer for something else, but often get hung up on exactly where to take these things. A new pilot program run by the US Postal Service might be the answer:

We read about the new program on Organizing LA and are pretty excited about it since it makes recycling the most ubiquitous forms of electronic clutter ridiculously easy. According to The USPS, they'll stock free envelopes in all their locations in LA for you to put your used/old/broken electronics in (they'll take inkjet cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players), then they'll mail it to Clover Industries who will either refurbish or recycle each gadget. You pay nothing.

Plus once it gets to Clover Industries, they have a “zero waste to landfill” policy so they're diligent about finding a way to use or recycle everything that gets sent in.

The program is happening in LA, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and San Diego. If it's successful, the program will expand in the fall.

Would you use this? Is this easier then how you recycle your electronics currently?

Originally posted by Laure on AT:LA.

Comments (3)

I send all my old cell phones into the Best Buy cell phone program and get online gift certificates for them.

posted by mesilla on May 28th 2008 at 5:55am
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I donate my old phones to battered women's shelters. There are usually drop boxes in cell phone stores so it is still convenient.

posted by http://badhuman.wordpress.com on May 28th 2008 at 7:06am
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I donate mine to shelters too, but I'm for any program that makes it simple for people to recycle these kinds of products and keep them out of landfills! Just saw bins at Whole Foods for all kinds of e-waste. Glad I caught this; I've been working on an article about e-waste on Green Wikia (green.wikia.com) and it would be helpful to add this new program to the Suggestions section.

posted by Mollyh on May 28th 2008 at 9:30am
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