Considering the vast amount of electronics waste being generated in the United States alone – a report published by the International Association of Electronics Recyclers projects 400 million units being generated on average per year making it the fastest growing category of municipal trash – Â there is clearly a need for consumer incentives to increase the current recycling rates. That’s why we were excited to see that Sears is now offering a brand new trade-in program in partnership with electronics buy-back company Gazelle that allows consumers to exchange their unwanted electronics for gift cards they can redeem both in-store and online.
Those interested in participating simply log-on to Sears.Gazelle.com where they will be prompted to answer questions related to the make, model and condition of their electronics. The system will calculate value of the trade-in and if the user is satisfied, the company will provide free shipping and packaging to return the equipment. A gift card will follow in the mail shortly thereafter.
[via Consumer Reports]
[image via Martin Kingsley on Flickr]
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Reddit
StumbleUpon
This seems like a great service. Neither Gazelle or Sears accepts TV sets, (understandable given the weight) but I wonder how many televisions were trashed due to the DTV transition. Electronics TakeBack Coalition estimates tens of millions—seems like a good estimate. Here’s a Flickr set of trahed TVs for visualization purposes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gladiolabean/sets/72157619306803660/
November 24th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
@Gladys
It sounds more like a ripoff to me. Gazelle doesn’t take anything that isn’t at least recent vintage. They pay 74 bucks for a perfect in-box Xbox 360 arcade, something that goes for 140 on craigslist.
November 24th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Hypocrisy. They should take all forms of e-waste, this is just cherry picking.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:20 pm