Ditching your cell phone? eBay has a green solution

April 21, 2007 12:35 am

THE CONSUMER electronics boom is fueled by gadget envy that makes people want to have the newest device, even if the one they already own works fine.

That's good for the economy, but bad for the environment.

Human nature isn't likely to change any time soon.

One billion cell phones were sold last year worldwide.

So on Earth Day, perhaps the most reasonable way to deal with the problem is to sell or trade your existing cell phone when buying a that shinier, cooler new one.

Don't toss it out.

Be green by making some green.

Save some money; save the planet.

There are many online companies like cellforcash .com that will pay small sums for used phones and then flip them for a profit.

But eBay is far and away the best way for individuals to get fair payment for devices like cell phones and laptops when they want to upgrade.

eBay is also good for the environment because it offers a way for those who want a slightly used or refurbished phone, laptop or other device at a greatly reduced price to buy a used product with some sense of assurance that it will work.

Ratings and recommendations on the site can tell you how reliable the seller is. You can see pictures of the used device, read about it and e-mail questions to the seller.

Sometimes, people who jump from cell phone to cell phone to be trendy put relatively new phones up for sale on eBay at reasonable prices.

And, obviously, buying a slightly used device at a savings is better for the environment than revving up the corporate machine one more notch by shelling out more for a brand new one.

Cell phones aren't the only tech items piling up in landfills.

Apple accepts old iPods for recycling and gives the sender a 10 percent discount coupon for a new one.

And The Wall Street Journal's Katherine Bochret has some advice on how to avoid green guilt when buying a new computer with all the bells and whistles and dumping an old one.

Recycling sometimes involves disassembly and melting parts down. And it sometimes involves consumer electronic products being refurbished and then being either resold or donated to charity.

Dell will come right to your door to pick up any of its old products free of charge and recycle them.

Hewlett-Packard will also come to your home to pick up and recycle products, but charges $13 to $34 for handling. The company then compensates you for each product with coupons worth from $30 to $50 for new H-P products.

Apple sells $30 labels on its Web site that can be used any brand of computer.

Lenovo has a recycling program called ThinkPlus that provides prepaid labels for $30 each. They're used to send in your old Lenovo system, monitor and printer to be refurbished. Then the computer is donated to a charity.

Always delete data from your hard drive before recycling a computer. Symantec's Wipe Info in Norton Utilities and Systems Works and Webloot's Software Washer both are helpful. Bochret recommends Jiiva's SuperScrubber for Macs.

As an added precaution, look for companies that will shred your hard drive as part of recycling or refurbishing.

Microsoft works with the nonprofit TechSoup to refurbish computers and also provide low-cost software for low-income families. Microsoft has list of 400 nonprofits at microsoft .com/mar.

Bochret recommends donating your used computer for refurbishment as soon as you get a new one. Computers more than five years old are usually too outdated to be reused.