calteg
SuperDork
1/11/24 2:14 p.m.
Cleaned out a bunch of junk drawers and found ~15 cell phones of various vintages. All are too old to have trade in value.
Is there a trustworthy place that will pay me even $1 per phone? The two options I'm aware of are:
-Drop it at the little kiosk at Walmart or Target. Who knows where it goes and if your info is secure
-I found one company that you can mail the phones in, but you have to pay for shipping and their disclaimer says many phones are worth $0.
Any other avenues I'm missing? I feel bad just throwing them in the trash
Our local dump has a hazardous waste and e-waste drop-off.
In reply to calteg :
Best Buy has e-waste bins for stuff like phones, usually right inside their doors.
Depending on your municipality you might have a day where they take e-waste or the local recycling/transfer station will also take the device.
Older phones aren't typically worth much so it's probably not worth the hassle of trying to get anything out of them. I'd just see if I could power them on, wipe them, then find wherever the closest local place was to drop off for recycling.
Sonic
UberDork
1/11/24 3:40 p.m.
My county has a staffed drop off point for e waste that is easy and free, yours might too, or have a specific day now and then
Staples is another retail location that accepts eWaste. I dropped off an old tablet, some cables, and CDs just a week ago.
Our transfer station has a cargo container for e-waste, with a couple of large boxes for rough sorting such as TV/monitors, computers/tablets/electronics, batteries, light bulbs, etc.
Keith Tanner said:
Our local dump has a hazardous waste and e-waste drop-off.
Ours here in Volusia County, Florida, does as well.
Take out the Sim card and any SD cards if there are any and schedule the appointment here: https://www.austintexas.gov/dropoff
They cover Travis County which means I think you are covered there.
Our convenience center has an E-waste container. I use it for most electronics.
Hard drives, I smash first. Phones get factory reset if possible or smashed if not. Tablets get the same treatment. Pretty much anything that can store personal information is rendered to shrapnel before going in the bin.
Keep in mind that most printers have memory as well. Those personal documents you printed may still be stored in it.
bmw88rider said:
Take out the Sim card and any SD cards if there are any and schedule the appointment here: https://www.austintexas.gov/dropoff
They cover Travis County which means I think you are covered there.
I don't think I've had a cell phone with a Sim Card in 7+ years.
Toyman!
MegaDork
5/14/24 12:27 p.m.
In reply to z31maniac :
My current phone has one. Samsung S23 Ultra.
Toyman! said:
Hard drives, I smash first.
This reminds me of an anecdote about IBM in Atlanta having a policy of requiring destruction of hard drives, carloads of executives, and local firing ranges that would rent submachine guns.
Contact a Woman's' Shelter or Veterans' home, ask if this donation can be used.
iPhones had SIM cards until 2022. They also support eSims, but the sim card slot didn't go away until the iPhone 14, in 2022.
Toyman! said:
Keep in mind that most printers have memory as well. Those personal documents you printed may still be stored in it.
Never have I wanted to use a crowbar on a printer more than now *just to be safe*
Mndsm
MegaDork
5/14/24 8:46 p.m.
there;s a reason i have half a dozen old cell phones laying around. I don't trust data removal.
Do a science experiment?
Just gonna wind up in a landfill anyway, so strip them down to circuit boards and extract the gold and other useful metals first.
