Looking for a place to get rid of your old gadgets?

Americans love technology and many of us can’t wait to go snap up the latest and greatest high-tech treat. Unfortunately, that leads to a ton of unwanted electronics piling up in our houses or worse in our landfills. Electronic waste is one of the fastest growing sectors of the garbage in the United States. Americans throw away more than 350,000 cell phones and 130,000 computers and other electronic devices every day. When items like these aren’t disposed of responsibly, they can leak harmful chemicals into the environment.

CAP staffers are always out and about at local events. One of the questions we are sometimes asked is, “Do you know of any place I can go to recycle my old computer, TV, etc?” Until recently I would mention a few annual electronic recycling events, which are a wonderful option by the way, but not everyone wants to wait for a once a year event. Last night I stumbled upon a website that actually pays people to reuse or recycle their unwanted electronics. It’s called Gazelle.

Gazelle accepts items in 20 categories including cell phones, PDAs, MP3 players, laptops, digital cameras, gaming systems and more. They even buy old movies, games and camera lenses. And, Gazelle even partners with local recyclers for some items they don’t accept online like televisions, CRT monitors, printers and fax machines.

The concept is simple, login to the site, enter the gadget’s model and condition, and find out how much Gazelle will pay you for it. If you like the price, Gazelle sends you a prepaid label and/or box to ship it and you receive payment via check, credit to your PayPal account, an Amazon gift card or a donation to a list of charities.

Gazelle’s goal is to promote reuse by reselling as many electronics as possible to extend the product’s lifecycle and keep it out of the landfill. In fact according to the company website, more than 80% of the electronics they receive find a new home. Items that don’t have a value are properly recycled. Good for the environment and good for your wallet. It’s a win-win!