Thursday, October 11, 2012

How to Recycle Old Electronics and Possibly Make Money Doing It




Recycling old electronics is nothing new. Many companies have offered recycling services for old cell phones, fax machines, desktop computers and other electronics for many years. What is new is the increase in cash return offered for those electronics – and a strong partnership with the USPS.

The Postal Service has partnered with MaxBack, an electronics recycler, to offer an easy way for customers to recycle their small, used devices. Interested individuals can go to https://www.usps.com/ship/recycle-through-usps.htm to access the USPS recycle website. Once there, customers can find their way to the MaxBack website, locate a particular item from a list of desirable electronics, and then determine how much the device is worth. While not all electronics are eligible for cash payment, customers can still send in their devices for environmentally friendly recycling. The program offers free Priority Mail shipping to MaxBack for recycled devices.

Prior to sending electronic devices to MaxBack, customers should be aware of the following restrictions and requirements:

- The number of electronics sent to MaxBack are limited to two shipments per calendar month containing no more than five devices per shipment.
- Electronic Service Numbers (ESN), an individual item code attached to each device, must be valid. A device can acquire a bad ESN if it was lost or stolen, or if the account attached to the phone has an unpaid balance. An ESN must be in good standing before a device can be accepted.
- Devices should have any lock codes removed prior to shipment.

Do you think the Postal Service could expand the program to include larger electronic devices in the future?

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