How to Dispose of Old Computers

So you've got an old computer but you don't want to throw it in the garbage. Good for you! Throwing it away might be illegal anyway, depending on where you live, and it's terrible for the environment due to the harmful "E-waste" that computers contain.

If you're feeling charitable, you can call up a local charity and donate it while getting yourself a nice tax deduction. Maybe you could make a few bucks by selling your old computer on eBay. Perhaps the company you bought it from will collect it for free. There are multiple choices if you're willing to do five minutes of homework before tossing it on the curb.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Reuse the computer. Instead of discarding it as waste, consider holding onto the computer as a backup storage device or using it as a server. If you're having software issues and just want to get rid of the whole computer, call a tech support technician to reinstall your operating system for you and you can save several hundred bucks in the process.

2. Donate your old computer to charity and claim the tax deduction. You can start your search for local charities by going to Earth911.org, ElectronicsRecycling.org or Techsoup.org. If you donate to any charitable organization, make sure you get a receipt for tax purposes.

3. Contact the computer manufacturer you purchased the system from, and ask if they can recycle the computer for you. Companies like Hewlett Packard, Dell and even retailers like Best Buy are publicizing their recycling campaigns much more than in the past.

4. Sell your old computer for some quick cash. If your computer is fairly new and works reasonably well, you can try selling it on eBay or at your neighborhood computer store.

5. Contact your local sanitation department or recycling center. Local government officials and sanitation departments may have systems in place to deal with E-waste on their own, and can take the computer off your hands. If they don't have a program in place, they should be capable of pointing you in the right direction.

Tips & Warnings

• Talk to your friends, neighbors or colleagues who might have discarded an old computer. They probably have at least one solution for you that requires minimal work on your part.
• You should delete your all of your personal information before donating or selling your computer to anyone. CNET's Download.com website has free hard drive erasing software for anyone to download. A program called "Active@ KillDisk-Hard Drive Eraser" comes highly recommended.

Resources

• Download.com - Free Hard Drive Eraser Software

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on 4/2/2009 Yes, this is the way to do it.

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on 3/2/2009 These are good ways to recycle or reuse your old computer.