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Best Buy Ramps Up Recycling
Customers walk into a Best Buy store to check out the latest gadgets and dazzling electronics, and now to recycle their old ones. In February, the Minneapolis-based company began accepting consumer electronics of nearly every type and brand, regardless of where they were purchased, at all its 1,006 US stores for recycling.
“As one of the world’s largest retailers of electronics, we are in a unique position to help our customers,” says Kelly Groehler, a Best Buy spokeswoman. “We are committed to making it easier for consumers to choose greener products, use energy for electronics and appliances more efficiently, and provide end-of-life solutions for the products we sell.”
Best Buy has been demonstrating their commitment and supporting electronics collection and recycling for more than five years. In 2003, Best Buy became a founding member of EPA’s Plug-In To eCycling program which aims to increase consumer electronics donation and recycling – ecycling – opportunities and increase public awareness of the importance of ecycling.
Best Buy started out by sponsoring collection events in their parking lots and piloting collection programs. They have worked to continually expand their electronics takeback programs. In 2008, Best Buy collected more than 39 million pounds of used electronics from consumers, nearly double what they collected in 2007 and more than five times as much as they collected in 2005.
Today, Best Buy offers customers a variety of opportunities to help the environment by recycling their used electronics including:
- A television and appliance haul-away program, in which Best Buy removes these products free of charge from a customer’s home when a replacement product is purchased from and delivered by Best Buy;
- Recycling kiosks for cell phones, mobile devices, CDs and DVDs in every store;
- A Tech Trade-In service that enables customers to download mailing labels from BestBuy.com and send unwanted electronics directly to recyclers; and
- A nation-wide in-store recycling program for consumer electronics, in which people can bring in up to two accepted electronic devices a day for recycling.
The used electronics collected through these programs go to Best Buy-contracted recycling partners. Best Buy works to ensure that their recyclers follow safe recycling practices and responsibly manage the products and materials. The recyclers determine whether products can be repaired, repurposed, or recycled. They dismantle the items and collect various commodities, such as plastics, glass, and metals, which are made into new products or delivered to a specialized recycler to be further processed and repurposed. Recycling electronics helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce pollution, save energy, and save resources by extracting fewer raw materials from the Earth.
For More Information
- Best Buy's Recycling Program
- Plug-In To eCycling
- eCycling Web Site
- Previous Feature Stories
- Best Buy Answers Recycling Call (January 2006)
- Best Buy Continues Nationwide eCycling Collection Program (August 2003)