Friday, March 29, 2024

How and where to sell your electronics scrap in Greenville, MS

Share

Green living should come easy to the residents of Greenville. The town has “green” in its name afterall. Jokes apart, it seems the city does take green living rather seriously. That’s why the town with a population of mere 34,400 has so many programs to keep itself clean and green ranging from annual clean-up days to litterbug reporting.

scrap-server-recycling

One of the more important aspects of green living is recycling and the city offers three permanent drop-off locations accessible to residents 24 hours a day where they can bring their recyclables with the focus being on paper waste such as newspapers, magazines, cereal and pizza boxes, etc.

But what about other types of waste more specifically electronic waste? Where does Greenville dispose its e-waste?

The city has a partnership with private recycler Sims Metal Management and conducts special drives during which the company accepts old and unwanted electronics like computers, laptops, servers, cell phones, gaming consoles, DVD players, VCRs, CD players, stereo components, set top boxes and circuit boards from its residents.

Why e-cycling is important?

Recycling electronic waste has various benefits. Aside from the obvious benefit that it diverts waste away from landfills, a lot of components of electronic equipment are a rich source of valuable and at times rare metals. 

For example, one metric ton of circuit boards can contain 40 to 800 times the amount of gold and 30 to 40 times the amount of copper mined from one metric ton of ore in the US, according to the U.S. Environment Protection Agency.

Not only does electronic recycling end up conserving natural resources, but it also helps reduce greenhouse gas emission and prevent air and water pollution. Additionally, e-recycling helps save energy required to mine and manufacture products from virgin materials. Recycling one million laptops saves the energy required to power 3,657 U.S. homes in a year.

What kind of e-waste can be recycled?

From cell phones to old computers, from coffee machines to blenders, and from printers to fax machines – all electronic items can potentially be recycled.

However, how they’re recycled may vary. For example, household appliances and electronic items that contain hazardous components or refrigerants have a different waste management process and need to be disposed accordingly. 

You can even recycle your old CDs and DVDs even though they’re not e-waste per say. However, they contain a lot of valuable materials including precious metals like gold and silver, non-ferrous metals like aluminum and nickel, high grade plastic, and glass. 

How and where can I recycle e-waste? 

One of the most important things to remember when disposing your e-waste is data security. Make sure you’ve deleted all your personal information and sensitive data from your computer before sending it for recycling. The same is true for your cell phone. Terminate your service, remove all the data, reset the phone, and shred your SIM card.

As to where you can recycle your e-waste in Greenville, one option is to wait for the Sims Metal Management’s collection drive.

But if you don’t want to wait for the drive, the company has a scrap yard in Greenville that will purchase electronic waste from the residents round the year. It’s even possible to get an online quote from them before you bring your e-waste to their Harbor Front Rd Greenville scrap yard. 

You can also sell electronic scrap to other Greenvillee-recyclers. However, residents are advised to seek recyclers that are third-party certified to an accredited electronics recycler certification program. This is to make sure that they follow the EPA-certified standards of safety and environmental sustainability.

Also, a lot of nondescript e-recyclers send the e-waste they procure overseas to countries like China and India where these often hazardous items are processed using unregulated practices that pose a danger to their soil and water resources as well as human health.

Sell your electronic scrap to an upright and conscientious e-recycler and you stand to gain both profit and peace of mind that your waste is not polluting someone else’s home!

Read more

More News