<p>You said (in another thread) "BestBuy took a bin full of electronics this week ". Tell us more. I had no idea. What all will they take? Donate or sell? Thanks.</p>
<p>The type and number of items each Best Buy store will accept seems to vary from one location to another. You should be able to check what your local store will take online. In our case, I’ve been able to drop off old monitors, computer cases (dh destroys the hard drives), keyboards, tape player, surround sound system and a big batch of cables. I understand it all goes for recycling. No one here will accept any of this stuff for donations. The last time we moved I had to pay someone to take similar stuff off my hands.</p>
<p>I forgot to add, it looks like BB officially limits the number of items they accept to three per household per day. I took more than three the first time and no one cared.</p>
<p>I have recycled electronics at Goodwill. I had an old computer in the car to go to Best Buy and was dropping off other stuff and the guy said that they would take it.</p>
<p>We have a chain in our area called abc warehouse. They will accept old tv’s and other electronics which they dispose of. We live in a small town so no charge and we’ve never brought more than 3 items. In the last city we lived in the county had a disposal site for hazardous items like electronics and paint. That might be something to look for. </p>
<p>Just a note - I changed the title of this thread to more accurately reflect the discussion. Also, in most cases it isn’t appropriate to use another member’s name in the title, much less be the entire title.</p>
<p>I struggle with what to do with regular, non rechargeable, batteries. Any ideas?</p>
<p>Onward, our local recycling center takes them. Also, do you have a Batteries Plus store near you? They take them as well…</p>
<p>Yes, we do. I never thought about Batteries Plus before. Thank you!</p>
<p>BestBuy in our town takes batteries, cords, computers (working or not), and pretty much most electronics. If they work, I see if GoodWill wants it first before taking it to BestBuy because the guy there says they just recycle and do NOT re-use the equipment. </p>
<p>@Onward - The Staples near us also has a battery recycling bin near the exit.</p>
<p>This may be a stupid question, but how do you destroy the hard drive? I’m just wondering because we have a computer/laptop graveyard here. Some don’t work at all, but I’m worried about the stuff on the hard drive. Can you just remove it and then…smash it with a hammer? </p>
<p>Don’t the garbage recyclers take electronics and batteries? I have my own graveyard too, due to the hard drive issue. I need to get on that - I think I’ve done that before, remove and an smash it with a hammer - or did we remove and keep and just get rid of the rest of the computer. </p>
<p>I’ve heard that if you wipe the hard drive with a strong magnet, that’s just as good as physically destroying it. Is that true?</p>
<p>My H take the hard drive out and takes it apart, salvaging the magnets in it and looking at the metal discs before discarding them. He doesn’t trust anything short of that physical removal, but I’m not positive it has to be done his way. There are companies that make money recovering data from drives–we tried to get them to recover data from our D’s literally fried hard drive but NO ONE, including them could salvage anything from it–the drive was quite crispy.</p>
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<p>Not in my area. Electronics must be taken to one of the county’s official stations, and there are only 8 of them. It’s a little easier with batteries. They can be taken to quite a few big stores around here, Home Depot, Lowes, Radio Shack, OSH. </p>
<p>My battery graveyard is an empty Kleenex box in the office. When it fills up, I’ll take them in, but it’s been 3 or 4 years and it’s not even 1/4 full yet.</p>