Trashing Tech Toys

Out With The Old, In With The New? A Few Tips From Larry Magid

(CBS)  This is the season when people get technology gifts, but it’s also the time of year when we get rid of our old gadgets. We might want to get that end-of-the-year tax write-off by donating products to a worthy charity, or maybe we just want to clear out our closets to make room for the new stuff.

Whichever the case, you shouldn’t throw your old technology products into the trash. I won’t fill this column up with a long diatribe about electronic waste: suffice it to say that it can be toxic. And if you decide to recycle, make sure you’re dealing with an organization the does so responsibly.
On its Web site, Greencitizen.com says that “80 percent of U.S. electronic waste collected for ‘recycling’ is dumped in Asia and Africa.”

A good recycling company will make sure that the waste is properly processed with safe disposal of all toxic materials. At www.Computertakeback.com there's a list of responsible recyclers broken down by state. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, at svtc.etoxics.org, has plenty of additional information on its Web site.

Another option sometimes is to send the tech item back to where it came from. Some companies offer their own recycling program for their equipment. In California, all cell phone companies are required to take back old phones. In some cases, they are given to domestic violence victims or others for whom your old phone could become a lifeline. If you’re buying a new PC or Mac and want to recycle your old one, check the manufacturer’s Web site to see what they can do to help. Apple will take back iPods at any of its retail stores, and will send you a coupon for free recycling of any brand PC if you buy a new Mac. Dell provides free recycling for any Dell-branded product. The easiest way to find out what your manufacturer offers is to type its name along with “+ recycling” into a search engine.

The end of the year is when a lot of people give old equipment to a non-profit to get a write-off of the fair market value. This is indeed a noble idea but don’t just drop off that old PC on the doorstep of your nearby church, school or non-profit organization. Equipment that might be obsolete for you might also be obsolete for that organization.

The National Christina Foundation is an organization that matches donors to worthwhile charities while maintaining minimum standards. . For example, for Windows PCs, they insist on a Pentium III or higher CPU. They say that “hardware needing repair is considered on a case-by-case basis where partner organizations have repair capabilities.” CompuMentor, a San Francisco-based organization that provides technology support and advice for non-profits, advises that “Any equipment that is not working or is more than five years old should be tagged for recycling.” In other words, they don’t want it. The group also reminds donors to be sure to include accessories such as keyboard and mouse -- “most organizations only accept complete systems.”

If you’re thinking of donating to a specific organization, make sure you talk with its staff or volunteers first to make sure the computer is needed.
Also, if you donate or sell a computer, be sure to completely erase all your data using disk cleaning software such as DataEraser or DiskEraser. Using the operating system’s delete doesn’t completely destroy your data - it can be recovered and used against you. You can find several of these products by searching for “disk eraser” at download.com.
Of course, you can always try to sell your old equipment. But you have to ask yourself whether it’s worth the hassle.

Another option is to hand it down to a friend or family member. My son took our old 36-inch Sony TV to his apartment at UCLA. I was glad to get it out of the house and he and his roommates are happy to have a relatively nice TV. They’d be even happier if I were to give them a brand-new high-definition TV but I’m Dad, not Santa.

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A syndicated technology columnist for over two decades, Larry Magid serves as on air Technology Analyst for CBS Radio News. His technology reports can be heard several times a week on the CBS Radio Network. Magid is the author of several books including "The Little PC Book."

[allunknowing]

first post.

I got an ipod for x-mas. hooray!

[yongamerica]

If i can get enough broken iPods I''m sure I could get one working with all the spare parts.
Free iPod, what could be sweeter?

Apple stores, can I have a few broken iPods? I''ll return the ones I don''t need.

Ipod''s are a waste of money and cause people to install adware on their computer because of iTunes. I got my daughter an MP4 player (20GB) for under 100 bucks and it plays all formats of videos, WMA''s, MP3''s and MP4''s....and when hooking it up to the computer, her system just saw it as another external hard drive. Just drag and drop the files. No 3rd party software was needed to install or anything. And it came with a three year full replacement warranty.

[raskal_2]

...Don''t put your old technology in the trash...are you mad. How else does a poor man get expensive toys? Throw it away...I know how to recycle it.

[ewharper]

I got a Microsoft Zune for $100!!

[hypnotoad72]

I love computertakeback.org - especially if you drill down the corporate responsibility page...

BTW: Al Gore is on Apple''s board. Since 2003. Now read up on their record. Al has clout everywhere else. Not with what happens in Apple? Apparently not.

I''ll stick with my PDA. HP iPaq. As long as somebody keeps making new batteries; the Li-Ion batteries have a ~2 year lifespan...

[bobnjersey]

[Whichever the case, you shouldn%u2019t throw your old technology products into the trash. ]

even better ... don''t bother buying that thing that you don''t really need ... that thing you''ve been convinced that you''re incomplete without ... that thing that''s really just there to feed the revenue stream of the one who is selling it to you.

[rf35]

I like my iPod...whenever it''s not connected to the computer. Every other time I hook it up, it crashes the system, the iPod, or both. I now use a charger that plugs into the wall so I don''t risk having to reload the thing every time I charge it from the USB port. And iTunes is pure KRAP! One really nice thing about the iPod is that I was able to do a reverse transfer and save of all my music when my hard drive failed a couple years ago. That was a life-saver! The software I used even converted everything back to the original formats for me!

[malcat]

A word of caution about giving your old tech items to manufacturers. Some of them will re-use certain components such as memory chips, hard drives, etc in newly purchased items. I know one particular PC maker that I strongly suspect has done that to me at least once.

[nottellin1]

This story completely ignored an easy way to properly dispose of electronic waste. Take it to a hazardous waste disposal center. These places not only properly dispose of toxic materials, if proper, they also reclaim usable metals and elements. All household hazardous waste should be thus disposed.