Original article by NY Times
Shopping for new office essentials to refresh your workspace is fun. What’s less exciting is figuring out what to do with all the old office chairs, electronics, and more that you’re replacing. You may find yourself with a room full of ancient printers, fax machines, and landline phones—all rendered obsolete with the process of paperless filing and digitizing. But being intentional about what happens to outdated and worn home-office equipment ensures the right gear finds a second home and limits the amount of bulky and hazardous items mistakenly sent to the city dump.
Here’s how to donate, recycle, and trash those unwanted office supplies.
What you need
Post-it notes and a pen
Moving boxes for smaller items
Cleaning supplies for items you plan to rehome (optional)
A hand truck or dolly for moving heavy items
How long will this take to clean?
Off-loading your old office equipment takes anywhere from a weekend to several days, depending on where it’s going. For example, if you already know you want to recycle everything, a quick trip to a recycling center is all the time you need. But if you prefer to be intentional about rehoming classic office equipment to various sources, be prepared to invest time in making those arrangements.
The how
Organize your gear
First, divide everything into piles. Break out some post-it notes, moving boxes, and pens, and divide everything into piles labeled Donate (you can specify which organizations), Recycle, and Trash.
Smaller items such as printers and keyboards that are going to the same place can be stored in labeled moving boxes. Larger items such as filing cabinets should have a Post-it note or tape on it to designate where it’s going.
Clean whatever you donate
Everything that you donate should be sanitized and in usable condition. A rag, soap, and water should do the trick for removing grime. Wirecutter also offers step-by-step cleaning instructions for your old keyboard and mouse, laptop, office chair, and more.
Determine where it’s going
Responsibly disposing of old office equipment, especially electronics (aka e-waste), requires more work than walking to a trash bin. Some electronics contain hazardous materials—such as cadmium, lead, or mercury—that can contaminate soil and groundwater. Printers can also take thousands of years to decompose, and they have the potential to catch on fire when improperly dumped. Here are your options if you want to dispose of your unwanted office equipment the right way:
City or county drop-off locations
Many municipalities accept bulky items that can’t fit into a trash bin. Contact your local sanitation department to find out if you can place large items like filing cabinets on the curb the night before or if you need to drop them off at a collection site.
You need to make special arrangements for e-waste disposal. A quick internet search with “[city] e-waste disposal” should bring up relevant information in your town.
Retailer e-waste recycling programs
Though sanitation departments often limit e-waste disposal events to certain times of year, retailer recycling programs offer more flexibility on where and when you can dispose of used electronics—usually for free.
Best Buy accepts up to three e-waste items per household each day as part of its recycling program. Staples takes up to seven items per customer per day. Epson lets you mail in up to 10 Epson items sans fee. And HP will recycle an old desktop printer when you buy a new one from them.
E-waste donation and buy-back programs
Though you can dispose of any old piece of gear at the city dump or an e-recycling center, it’s important to donate only used office equipment that still works.
Through Dell’s Reconnect program, you can donate an old laser printer to Goodwill. The Salvation Army accepts office electronics via both its pick-up service and drop-off locations nationwide. And eBay allows private sellers to donate a portion of their sale proceeds—10% or more—to their preferred charity.
Several manufacturers offer buy-back programs for their branded items, but guidelines often vary by state. For example, both Brother and Canon provide a list of state laws regarding how to handle e-waste and electronics rebates.
Facebook Marketplace
Facebook is not only a place to keep in contact with family and friends, but it’s also a Marketplace to buy and sell products, like office furniture. If you type “office furniture” in the search bar, the first thing that should pop up is the Facebook Marketplace.
By adding filters in your search, you can sort products near you in a certain price range, condition, etc.
Post a photo of your old furniture, add some details that may be useful to your buyer, set your location and price, and let the selling begin!
Community donation centers
Sometimes you want to know your old gear is truly serving your community. Technical schools, after-school STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) programs, and even theater programs may take your old office gadgets.
Donations of old electronics to technical programs help teach children how to code and build components. Office chairs, knick-knacks, and landline phones can be used as props in high school theater departments.