Most of us grew up with the Environmental Protection Agency’s friendly "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" motto* —
but when it comes to gadgets, being environmentally responsible isn’t quite so easy.
That’s
because electronics are neither easy for manufacturers to create nor simple for recyclers to disassemble. On top of that, laws on handling
e-waste are inconsistent between countries, states and even cities.
Long story short, the biggest problem with recycling gadgets is it’s
confusing as hell for consumers.
But it really doesn’t have to
be. Over at Wired.com’s How-To Wiki, Gadget Lab rounds up a list of major companies and how their
recycling programs work — so your next useless cellphone doesn’t end up sleeping in a drawer or leaching toxics into a landfill. We start with the easiest stuff first and move on to the more complicated programs.
So check out our friendly guide before tossing that dead iPod in the garbage, won’t you?
And if the thought of recycling bores you, check out Wired.com’s awesome photo gallery of a recycling facility we visited. We promise it’ll get your eco-friendly juices flowing.
* Or "Recycle, Reduce, Reuse," if you grew up being misinformed by Recycle Rex.
Photo: James Merithew/Wired.com
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