RETAILER RECYCLING PROGRAMS
Best Buy
Best Buy has launched a pilot program that offers electronics recycling for consumers. There is a limit of 2 items per household per day and TVs larger than 32 inches, console televisions, microwaves and other large appliances are not accepted. There is a $10 per unit charge on each TV, laptop or computer monitor brought in to be recycled and in return a customer will receive a $10 Best Buy Gift Card. Participating Best Buy locations include:
- Minnetonka
- Edina
- Inver Grove Heights
- Roseville
- Burnsville
- Brooklyn Center
- Maplewood
- Fridley
- Oakdale
- Apple Valley
- Richfield
- Maple Grove
- Coon Rapids
- Eden Prairie
- Eagan
- Blaine
- Lakeville
In addition, Best Buy provides a drop box in the entryway of each store for people to drop off cell phones, inkjet cartridges and rechargeable batteries for recycling at no charge. They also provide self-mailer envelopes for those who want to mail their old inkjet and toner cartridges from home.
Office Depot
With Office Depot's Tech Recycling Service, customers have the opportunity to buy a Tech Recycling Box from any Office Depot store. These boxes come in 3 different sizes: Small ($5), Medium ($10), Large ($15). Customers can then fill the box with as many acceptable items that can fit and bring the unsealed box to any Office Depot store for recycling. Items that are acceptable include most office equipment, televisions cell phones, and other household electronics. Kitchen appliances and larger appliances are not allowed. Check the website for further details on what is acceptable. http://www.officedepot.com/specialLinks.do?file=/promo/pages/0928_recycling.jsp&template=customerservice
Office Depot also gives customers the opportunity to trade in their used equipment. Equipment that is eligible for trade in includes items such as Notebook PCs, MP3 Players, Desktop PCs, LCD Monitors, Game Consoles, Camcorders, Digital Cameras, LCD Televisions and Smartphones/PDAs. More details about tech trade-in is available online.
Stapleshttp://www.staples.com/sbd/content/about/soul/recycling.html Staples allows customers to bring in their used computers, monitors, laptops, desktop printers and all-in-ones to any U.S. Staples store to be recycled for a fee of $10 per piece of large equipment. The $10 fee covers handling, transport, product disassembly and recycling. Smaller pieces of equipment such as, keyboards, mice, and speakers are accepted at no charge. All brands are accepted, and it does not matter if the piece of equipment was purchased at Staples.
Staples also allows customers to recycle cell phones, PDAs, pagers, digital cameras, chargers and rechargeable batteries for free. They offer $3 in Staples Rewards toward a future purchase of ink or toner when HP, Lexmark or Dell cartridges are returned to the stores for recycling.
RadioShack
Consumer electronics retail chain RadioShack Corp. announced that it was expanding its electronics take-back program - offering trade-in of used,portable electronics for store credit, in the form of a RadioShack gift card - to include approximately 4,400 company-operated stores.
The company is also offering customers same-day savings on eligible products capable of powering-on during an in-store appraisal, providing that customers give the store a name and address and show a valid ID.
Previously, RadioShack only offered the program online, with consumers filling out a form describing the condition of their used product. From there, the service determines the device's trade-in value and offers participants in the continental U.S. the option of printing out a prepaid shipping label to mail the product back to the company. A gift card equal to the value of the returned item is then shipped to the customer within two weeks.
