As technology advances at an increasingly rapid pace, your gadgets and devices quickly become obsolete. You often find yourself worrying about the state of your smartphones, tablets, and laptops when all you need to do is update them. Luckily you have this post to guide you through six exciting ways that you can use to deal with your old tech!
Old Tech Is Bad For The Environment
Before going into detail about what you should do, it is wise to understand why you should do the things in this post. Many people don't realize the environmental impact that their old technology has. From TVs to smartphones, many people continue to buy new devices without recycling their old ones. Some of your old tech might have heavy metals in them that are bad for the environment and human health.
A major problem with recycling is the cost of processing the materials after they have been collected, which often exceeds the value derived from recycling efforts.
This is because it is cheaper for manufacturers to produce new products than to recycle an existing product. So with this in mind, what can you do to keep your old devices ending up in the landfill and potentially poisoning the surrounding environment?
Trade-In Old For Ones
With the advancement of technology, people are presented with several options when it comes to the buying of new electrical devices. It's essential to make intelligent purchases to get what you need at a reasonable price. Old electrical appliances are usually inefficient and therefore more expensive in the long run. It is not worth it to spend money on something that will soon stop working for you.
This is why many people choose to trade in old electrical devices for new ones. The benefits of choosing to trade in your mobile phone or other electrical devices for new ones are environmental, economic, and social. Environmental benefits include the reduction of hazardous waste that accumulates when old devices are thrown away, preventing the release of chemicals into the environment.
The social benefit is that trade-in programs allow people who might not access new devices to acquire them. The economic benefit is that companies can recover the value of their products by performing a trade-in program instead of recycling them or paying for disposal costs.
Sell Them Online
It is easier than ever before to set up a seller's account on an online platform like Amazon, eBay, or even Facebook, as is the case these days. Therefore, you should see if you can get back some of your investment to upgrade it. In most cases, joining a local Facebook buy and sell group is the best initial option as it requires fewer hoops to jump through and can often yield a quick sale. Just ensure that you screen potential buyers if meeting them in person and always refer to whichever platform's terms and conditions to stay safe.
You can also sell your used tech to an e-cycling company if you don’t want to go through the trouble of finding potential buyers and talking to them. Florida-based technology distributor and e-cycling company PC Liquidations buys used IT hardware and will pay you to ship the items to their warehouse.
Wipe Clean And Update
In many cases, older technology can begin to slow down due to bloating old files, old software, and many other things. Therefore, you might be able to rekindle new life into an old device by wiping it clean and starting fresh. This option is typically best suited for things like old computers and laptops but can work equally well for mobile devices.
Essentially, all it involves is backing up your data and then resetting it to factory settings. This task is far easier with movie devices as they usually come with an option to do this in the settings menus. In addition, they tend to update data on the fly, whereas laptops generally need to be backed up manually.
Nonetheless, with a bit of elbow grease and some determination, you can usually breathe new life into old and slow electronics by beginning anew.
Freecycle To Those Who May Need It
Freecycling is the practice of giving away personal goods for free, either to friends and family or to a charity. The idea behind this practice is that it helps reduce waste, encourages people to help others, and saves the environment. If you are not interested in keeping your old tech, this is arguably one of the best options.
Many people will start off attempting to sell their equipment and then move on to give it away if they cannot make a sale. The benefit of freecycling over donation (the next tip) is that you can often provide things to those in need within your own community before giving them away to others.
Furthermore, you might be able to negotiate a trade of some kind like your old phone for an old cabinet, for example. However, you must wipe all of your data from the device before giving it away. If you are considering donating your old appliance, make sure to securely wipe the data from your old device before handing it over.
Doing this ensures that no one else can access any of your personal information. It may even be necessary to remove the old hard drive from the laptop and replace it if necessary.
Donate To Charity
If you are the generous type, then donating could be a perfect choice. You will get rid of your unwanted items, avoid poisoning the land, and hopefully make someone's life better to boot! There are plenty of places you can donate to, including charity shops, thrift stores, and charitable organizations that allow you to donate old electronics to the less fortunate.
You should also heed the previous about wiping your data before you donate. Moreover, charitable donations usually qualify for tax deductions. All you have to do is check if your donation allows.
Use As Objet D'arts!
All of the previous points are great if you have tech worth selling or giving away. But what can you do if you have a broken old CRT monitor or a desktop PC that nobody wants? Well, you can always turn them into exciting pieces of art. You can turn old desktop PCs into coffee tables or even plant pots with a bit of DIY skill. The possibilities are endless; you just need to be creative!
The tips above should give you some valuable information to help you deal with your old technology. You can donate, sell it, trade it in or even repurpose it into something else entirely. The longer you keep it out of the landfill, the better off you are.
