Goodbye old Laptops, Computers, & Monitors – Time to ‘Recycle’

Well, I needed to do a little cleanup in the garage this afternoon. What do you do with old computers, monitors, etc when they break down and are replaced by newer, better models? In my house the answer has always been that you stick them out in the garage ’cause you never know when you … ok, just because what else are you supposed to do with them!

Well, what do do with such stuff? I could always just go put it in the dumpster at the office. That would be the easiest, but I had a twang of guilt knowing it was probably not the ‘ecological’ thing to do. Computer and other electronics contain lead and other heavy metals that can be harmful to the environment.

Office Depot sells you boxes to put electronic recycling in for $5, $10, or $15. Found that Best Buy would let me bring in 2 computers or monitors a day for recycling. They charge $10 per item but give you a $10 gift card, so a wash.

Did a little more research online and discovered the Benton County Solid Waste Management Program, which is a joint effort of Benton County and the Cities of Richland, Kennewick, West Richland, Prosser, and Benton City. The program, handled through the Richland Landfill, accepts computers, monitors, TVs, etc at no charge for Benton County residents! This is the deal I was looking for. Now I just had to find it. The Richland Landfill web site gave the address as 3102 Twin Bridges Rd., but did not link to a map. I plugged this address into google maps but the satellite imagery made it obvious that google had no idea where that street address was located. With some more google searching, I found this map to the landfill. That said, once you head out Highway 240 from Richland, the signs made finding the landfill very easy.

Since it was going to be ‘free’ I did some more scrounging around the house and ended up pulling out 2 old computer towers, 2 old CRT monitors, 2 old printers, and 2 very old laptops. When I say very old, I can do mean very old. I remember justifying spending $$ on a business laptop 20 years ago. I wish I had the specs for it but believe me, an xbox is much more powerful today and costs 1/10th what I paid.

Yes, there is a bit of the ‘hoarder’ in me. I am going to miss that nostalgic wave that rolled over me when I would see the old laptop in the garage as I was searching for something else, but I felt good knowing this this stuff was gone, and I know it made my wife happy. Hopefully I can get out to the garage tomorrow afternoon and load up a box or two of other stuff I have been ‘collecting’ in the garage and take it to the dumpster ’cause when I said I did a ‘little’ cleanup today my wife would agree with the word ‘little’.