Recycle electronics free, protect your personal data: how you can do it
How to recycle your old electronics
April is Earth Month, with the focus on the importance of protecting our environment! This includes recycling your old electronic. FOX 26 Consumer Reporter Heather Sullivan visited Best Buy to learn the safe way to get rid of your old devices.
HOUSTON - April is Earth Month, when the focus is on the importance of protecting our environment.
Importance of recycling electronics
Why you should care:
If you have an old laptop, tablet, cellphone, or other electronic device, it's important to recycle it to keep toxins that can leach out from ending up in the soil and water.
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What we know:
Before you recycle a device, be sure to back up any data, photos, or videos you want to keep or that contain personal or financial information. You can save it to an external hard drive or use a cloud storage service.
Some recycling programs, like Best Buy's, will then wipe the data for you before the device is recycled. You can also wipe it yourself, by simply going to settings, then recovery, and then re-set the device.
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What you can do:
Here are some free electronic recycling programs:
- The City of Houston and many other localities offer free recycling on certain days of the month
- CompuCycle
- Texas Recycles Program
Best Buy is also offering free electronic recycling of up to three items a day through April, both in store and by mail. Items with no recycling fee include printers, desktops, cell phones, fans, MP3 players, tablets and e-readers, printer ink, soundbars, and digital cameras. There is a recycling fee on computer monitors and TVs.
The Source: Information in this article is from Best Buy, the City of Houston, and CompuCycle.