I like gadgets. Due to a
low WAF, I don’t get to have as many new ones as I might like, but I do
get to upgrade once in awhile. I also take stuff from other people that
has no value to them, but might have some value to me. Then it ends up
in the closets, all over the computer table, and in the garage, taking
up too much space. But what should I do with it, even once I am
convinced that it’s not that likely to be useful in the future?
In honor of last week
being Earth Week, I want to lift up one of the easiest recycling options
that I have found. It worked great for me when I had to get rid of our
deceased 25-inch television, which we had replaced with a very pretty
HDTV! I got my exercise by getting the TV from the shed in my backyard
all the way to the driveway to load it into my SUV. I drove a couple of
miles to Best Buy and grabbed a cart, then I wheeled it into the
customer service desk at the store. They charged me $10 to take the TV,
but immediately gave me a $10 gift card to the store, so the net cost
was nothing. Well, at least if you’re likely to spend money at Best Buy
occasionally, like I am. Best Buy’s program has saved over 60
million pounds of consumer electronics from the landfills of our nation.
There may be other
programs in your neck of the woods, and I encourage you to use them. I
am excited by big retailers getting into the recycling (or E-cycling)
game because those are the programs that will be used by the most people
and be the easiest to us. Radio Shack’s
Trade and Save program will pay you to recycle MP3 Players, Phones,
Cameras, Camcorders, GPS Devices, Car Audio, Laptops, Game Media, Game
Consoles, HDTVs, Monitors, Desktops, Car Amplifiers, Radar Detectors,
Digital SLR, Keyboards, and Mice! They promise free shipping as well. I
believe that many Radio Shack locations will also recycle used batteries
including standard sizes, laptop, and cell-phone batteries.
Another way to cut
down on the electronic waste that you generate is not to buy the
physical media in the first place. I just completed my upgrade to
Quicken 2010. As many of you probably know, Intuit forces you to upgrade
Quicken every three years by removing online support for versions older
than three years. I’m not overly fond of that, but I’ll adjust. What I
did appreciate was that this year I could download the newest version of
Quicken and not need to waste a box and a CD that I would use once to
load on to my computer and never bother with again. If I do need to
re-load the software, I can visit my account at quicken.com and download
it again. No CD, no retail packaging, no shipping! No discount either,
but that’s life.
Happy
stewardship of the earth!
Is there anyone out there that would be
willing to write a Tech Geek post on mini-HD cameras like the Flip Mino
HD and on how you’ve used or will be using them in your youth ministry?
Tech Geek
Advice and new 'finds' in the tech world for those doing Youth and Family Ministry. Read about what's the latest and get your questions answered!
Comments
Post has no comments.