The Costco Trade-In and Recycle Program for Old Electronics
Tuesday, 6th November 2007 (by J.D.)This article is about Odds and Ends
I used to collect computer components. While doing computer consulting in my spare time, I accumulated a room full of hard drives, computer cases, video cards, and monitors. At first it made me feel wealthy to look at all the computer parts I had. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this junk was precisely that: junk.
Eventually I recycled all of this stuff, but I had to pay to do it. I took a van-load of equipment to Free Geek, a Portland-area non-profit, and gave them $210 to take all of my components.
Donating the stuff to charity was a fine option, but now there’s another one.
While browsing the FatWallet forums, I learned that Costco recently teamed with a company called GreenSight to start a trade-in program for consumer electronics. They’ll take computers, monitors, mp3 players, camcorders, and more. The trade-in values are rather low, but may be worthwhile in some cases. Payment is made in Costco Cash Cards.
GreenSight will recycle items for which they’re not able to offer trade-in credit. (For a limited time, there’s not even a shipping charge.) There’s some concern at FatWallet that GreenSight does not actually recycle these items, but according to the company’s policies:
Our recycling program employs a zero tolerance landfill policy meaning all of the material that is subject to recycling is disassembled by hand, carefully separated and eventually utilized as feedstock for various raw material extraction processes (including smelting and refining).
If you have old computer equipment in the garage that you’ve been meaning to get rid of, this may be a great opportunity to do so.
It’s amazing today how fast expensive computer products go from top of the line to junk in a matter of less than a year.
I think my brother can use the Costco recycle program. He has way too many old computer parts lying around.
-Raymond
I would advise people to be wary of electronics recyclers. This one sounds good, but may be worth some investigating. Many of them have been known to simply ship the stuff off to Nigeria, China, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Cambodia, and the Ivory Coast.
This is a link to a press release by the Basel Action Network, a Washington State based 501(c)3 dedicated to the environmental and economic consequences of the toxic trade. They discuss computer “recyclers” in this article.
http://ban.org/ban_news/2007/070912_warning.html
I second what Seth said — computer recycling is typically done by hand as you quoted above, but it’s done in places like rural China. The process involves paying a bunch of poor peasants to melt the solder out (often letting it run into nearby rivers or whatever, and poisoning the workers) and having them pull out the reusable components.
There’s no good, safe, low-cost way to get rid of the stuff at the moment.
re: computer consulting
I am just getting started doing this. How about a post with some tax and finance tips for the working-at-home 1099 contractor? Sometimes it seems like the tax laws are so narrow I can’t take any of the deductions for businesses!
is a Costco membership required?
A Costco membership is not required.
I usually like to give my old electronics to charities. There are a few in the bay area that take old electronics and refurbish them for sale or give aways. I get the tax write off for almost full value, while the charities get resources they wouldn’t otherwise have.
This sounds awesome, exactly what I need. Thanks!
Re: exporting:
“GreenSight conforms to a “Zero Landfill/No Export” Policy by working with only ISO 14001 certified partners who recycle and refine these materials for remanufacturing into new products.”
On the subject of Costco… if you ever feel the urge to buy an extended warranty and can find the product at Costco, keep this in mind:
Costco’s New Return Policy
You knew it was going to happen, especially if you read about some of the abuses committed by commenters in my post about how incredible the former Costco return policy was. Well, Costco this week announced (Consumerist broke it, at least to me) that they were going to be adjusting the policy to a 90-day electronics returns policy on D24 categories (their categories) televisions, computers, cameras, camcorders, iPod/MP3 players, and cellular phones. This only applies to purchases made after the roll out date (explained below).
Concierge & Warranty Extension
One cool thing out of this is that I didn’t know was that Costco extends a manufacturer’s warranty on televisions and computers to 2 years from date of purchase and that they offer free technical support on their Costco Concierge Technical Support line available at 1-866-861-0450.
Roll Out Date
The policy is being rolled out starting 2/26 and ending 4/2 so if you make a purchase before the official roll out date you are grandfathered into the existing return policy. The dates are:
* California - 2/26/07
* Remaining West Coast incl. NW, LA, SD - 3/12/07
* MW and TX - 3/19/07
* NE - 3/26/07
* SE and PR - 4/2/07
Paying to recycle. That is rough. My roommate took a load of computer components to the landfill once. I assumed they were going to be recycled, but now that I consider it maybe they weren’t…
Oh well, I mostly just wanted to say that I would not pay to recycle.
There are local recyclers that will take common PC components for free. I found this place in my local area and it was pretty painless to drop stuff off.
http://www.classiccomputerrecovery.com/dropoffs.htm
[...] And the same blog this week published a piece about Costco recycling electronic components. It’s an interesting read: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/11/06/the-costco-trade-in-and-recycle-program-for-old-electro... [...]
Data Doctors, if you have those where you live, will take all electronics, no charge. They’ll even give you a tax receipt. Though I’m not sure what they do with it…?
As someone that provides a lot of advice to computer consultants working with small businesses and small businesses trying to better manage their technology assets, I’ve spent some time looking into PC recycling programs. It’s unfortunate that technology loses value so quickly, but it’s just a fact of life in business that every time you have to upgrade your systems, you’re going to have to find a way to “get rid of” the ones you’re not using anymore. Computer recycling programs can be a really good way to do this, since you’re most likely not going to get much cash value out of them. Because some recycling programs and charities can end up costing money for the typical small business owner to use, it seems like The Costco program (if it’s indeed as easy as it sounds) would definitely be something to look into for those that don’t have a lot of extra budget dollars or time to spend worrying about disassembling parts and getting outdated technology ready to take responsibly to the right place.
This is a win for the consumer who wants some quick and easy store credit, while avoiding adding more junk to the trash.
Wow the trade in values are not just low, they are a joke. You can pick the highest processor, and the trade in value shows zero, if hard drive present is set to No. But if you change hard drive present to yes, then you get a whopping $60, lol. Your better off selling on your own for $100. You get more $ and make someone happy, and it stays out of the landfills.
We are a nonprofit organization, all volunteer that reuses, rebuilds, and then as a last resort recycles. We generally charge for TVs/Monitors/ and some printers. It costs substantial amount to recycle CRT glass. Costco uses Greensite, however they also work with local organizations to keep electronics recycling loca.