From Black Friday to a Greener Planet

With the holidays just around the corner, and with the big retail sales during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, many British Columbians start bringing new electronic devices into their homes at this time of the year – like TVs, game consoles, computers, and tablets. All these new devices take up space, and so older devices start “getting the boot.”

Since 2007, Return-It Electronics/Recycle My Electronics has provided British Columbians with safe and environmentally responsible ways to reuse or recycle old, obsolete, broken, and unwanted electronic devices, instead of throwing them away.

Today, they recycle more than 3 million electronics every year in BC, and over the past 15 years, Return-It Electronics/Recycle My Electronics has worked together with British Columbians to recycle more than 260,000 tonnes of old electronics. Together we’re keeping metals, plastics and other valuable resources out of landfills, and putting the recovered materials back into the manufacturing supply chain.

Give New Life to Your Old Electronics

85% of British Columbians are aware of how to recycle electronics in an environmentally friendly manner. Last year alone, together, we recycled about 4kg of electronics, per person in BC.

Return-It Electronics/Recycle My Electronics is also working hard to spread the word about other responsible uses for old electronics, by connecting businesses that would prefer to have their reusable electronics refurbished – rather than recycled – through organizations like the BC Technology Learning Society, and the BC Electronics Material Exchange. This helps give new life to old electronics by supporting the Computers for Schools program in BC, and by helping British Columbians to sell, give away, or trade still-working electronics items with each other.

In addition to protecting the environment through the programs listed above, Return-It Electronics/Recycle My Electronics is also dedicated to helping protect the privacy and data of British Columbians, by providing easy, practical advice about how to safely and securely wipe devices and memory cards before getting rid of them. This information – and more – is available on the Electronics website.

Return-It Electronics/Recycle My Electronics is Making it Easier Than Ever to Protect the Environment

The number of old devices saved from landfills is growing every year, and so is the number of categories of eligible devices. A decade ago, Return-It Electronics/Recycle My Electronics could only accept computers and monitors, printers, fax machines and televisions, but today British Columbians can recycle 17 different categories of electronic devices, including cell phones, video games, home entertainment devices, medical devices, musical instruments and more.

For more than a decade, Return-It Electronics/Recycle My Electronics has been working diligently to make it easier and more convenient for people to drop off their old devices for recycling, and has grown from only a few depots, in 2007, to now more than 235 authorized collection sites found in communities spread all across BC.

So take those old electronics, and find a Return-It Electronics location nearest you to recycle your old devices.