How do you get rid of that ancient computer that’s been sitting in your garage for the past 10
years? Or your old cell phone now that you have a new one that hooks up to the Internet and has
a GPS system? Electronics are constantly becoming obsolete and disposal of old items has
become a problem since it is illegal by state law to just throw away anything with a circuit board.
More and more self storage facilities have stepped up to the e-waste recycling cause and have
donated storage space to the recycling of electronics.
What’s more impressive is that many of these storage facilities either provide the service for free
or charge a small fee and donate the proceeds to local school teams or charities. A Florida
company, Budget Self Storage, has become the latest storage business to join the eco-friendly
cause. Budget provides both residential and commercial storage and is located in Sarasota. It is now an official
drop-off location for the recycling of computers, monitors, cell phones, toner cartridges, printers
and other e-waste. Budget’s work for the community goes beyond e-waste as they routinely take
part in the holiday Toys for Tots campaign. They have more than 40 facilities in Florida, North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Ontario.
An easy way to remember what represents e-waste is anything that needs to be plugged in or
plugged in to charge. It is illegal to dispose of these items and they must be recycled by law for
the sake of the environment. Some other items you might not have identified as e-waste are:
televisions, fax machines, monitors, optical drives, PC boards, DVD players, VCRs, printers,
radios, computer mice, stereo components, hard drives, zip drives, and even cables and cords.
California storage facilities seem to be leading the way with e-waste services, even teaming up
with green groups to promote the service. California-based A-1 Self Storage partners with
GREENspotDROPoff offering e-waste collection at several different locations and raises money from the service to donate to local schools.
GREENspot, located in Burbank, C.A., works with different local storage facilities to provide a
convenient way to dispose of e-waste. Its goal is to not only help the environment, but also help
local communities.
According to the latest statistics, three million tons of e-waste was generated in the United States
and only about 410,000 tons is recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. The rest winds up in landfills or incinerators.
Twelve e-waste facilities were offered recently in Southern California when TRI Products
teamed up with Extra Space Storage Inc. Residents in San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles and San
Bernardino can drop off computers, monitors, printers, motherboards, TVs, VCR and DVD
players, fax machines, phones and more.
Sources Used:
“Budget Self Storage Goes Beyond Storage Solutions.” Auto-Mobi.info. Jan. 1, 2011,
GREENspotDROPoff. 2011.
“E-waste Recycling Helps Our Neighborhood Schools! Free & Convenient E-waste Recycling Open to the Public.” A-1 Self Storage. 2011.