Wife at Staples yesterday mentioned Best Buy charging me $25 to accept an old CRT monitor and they said they would have done if for free so I looked it up:
Wife gets credit for recycling ink cartridges there.
I took a worn out printer to Best Buy 6 weeks ago and no charge, but we've already covered this topic about a month ago. You should have complained to the manager instead of complaining here as there's nothing we can do to get your money back.
Not my purpose. Just pointing out difference between Best Buy and Staples policy. I was irritated having to pay as I had previously taken maybe 4 much larger CRT TV's to Best Buy at no charge. I am going to be reimbursed for getting rid of the monitor as it belonged to a consulting client and they will pay me. I had to ship back their computer but they told me to get rid of the peripherals. Still have client but now use my home computer to access them.
Best Buy may be a better place to take printers as they may give you a
15% rebate on HP printers towards a new one.
I'm not sure how much of a hassle it is to recycle at BB or Staples, but there's a small computer repair/used equipment store near me where I can pull up to the front door and they come out to take the stuff out of my van.
What's it's like to recycle at a big box store? Do you have to carry your stuff in from the parking lot and then wait for a clerk to accept it? Do you have to fill out any forms?
and, do you have to buy something there? will they also take TV's or just "office equipment"
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Best Buy: you lug it in and drop it off at the designated spot. The store closest to me has a set of rolling shelves just inside the entrance for depositing recyclables.
Nope. They have a limit of 3 acceptable items (see their list) per person per day.
Not at Best Buy.
Call your local store or check their website to find their list of items they'll accept for recycling.
Best Buy used to accept tvs and monitors for free, but due to their expense of recycling them, they now charge a fee. Looks like Staples is willing to take them for free.
You should also check with your local government (city, county) to see if they have a recycling program, and what, if anything, they'll accept. My county has no electronics/appliance recycling program, but they provide a list of places within the county that will accept them, some for free, some for a fee, some will pick up, some won't.
I had a relative working in for a county electronics recycling programs who was everybody's buddy, because he constantly brought home new, nearly new, or older but still in great condition stuff and gave it away. That county had a room at their recycling headquarters where they'd put the stuff that was still usable, and any member of the public could come and help themselves. Of course he was ideally situated to grab the best stuff as soon as it came in. He was amazed by the number of people who'd buy a power tool for a project, then put the nearly-new tool out for recycling afterward. The best time of year to score tvs and other electronics in great shape was October-February, when all kinds of people upgraded and put their older stuff out for recycling.
So that's another tip - if you're looking for free/cheap usable secondhand electronics, check with the places that accept this stuff and find out if they resell it or allow people to take any for free.
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