Digital gold: Turning techno-junk into cash

As a hungry grad student, Brandon Mendelson can sum up his financial status in two painful words: “broke” and “desperate.” He needs quick cash to help cover his living expenses, including food and health insurance.

But where to look? Mendelson scanned his campus at SUNY Albany and saw possible salvation in the trash stream. Not beer bottles or discarded newspapers. Today’s garbage: digital debris.

Last week, Mendelson began using his Facebook page to solicit empty ink cartridges and old cell phones from friends, fellow students and others too busy to properly dispose of them. His plan is to stockpile the donated techno-junk in a cardboard box in his spare bedroom and ultimately recycle the material with a few of the rising number of companies that offer dollars for e-waste. Already, Mendelson has sent several unwanted cell phones to Toshiba, reaping about $11 for each.

“It’s pocket change, but when you have an empty food closet, everything counts,” said Mendelson, who is studying history and media at the upstate New York college. “Health insurance is our biggest expense – $917 or so for every two months – so as I expand this (collection effort), my goal would be to help pay for the insurance. I have a heart condition so I have to stay covered.”

As the economy pinches wallets and budgets, more U.S. consumers like Mendelson are scrounging their junk drawers and bedroom closets in search of a little gold: long-idle desktop computers, digital cameras, gaming consoles, cell phones and other digital remains. These folks are, in turn, plugging into the surge of tech manufacturers and retailers that are aiming to green their image by launching recycling programs — a marriage made in e-waste heaven.

Two weeks ago, RadioShack kicked off an electronics trade-in program that allows consumers to use an online calculator to tally the value of their aging GPS devices, MP3 players, wireless phones, notebook computers and tech products. If people agree with assessed prices they see for their unwanted gadgets, they can ship them to the company for free. About two weeks later, RadioShack will send them a company gift card.

Last year, Staples became the first national retailer to offer in-store recycling for all brands of larger office equipment such as desktop computers, printers and fax machines. Customers typically pay a $10 fee for the service, while there is no cost for handing in keyboards, cell phones and PDAs. But between Oct. 12 and Nov. 15 this year, Staples began giving customers $30 in Staples Rewards (price discounts) for recycling old tech products like printers and then purchasing replacements from Staples in the same category. (Staples also hands consumers $3 in-store coupons for each ink cartridge they recycle with the company).

“People know they can’t just throw old printers and CRT monitors in the trash and they don’t know what to do with them, so they’ve been piling up around people’s homes,” said Scott Rankin, vice president for technology and merchandising for Staples. “We’ve even been getting some of those old dot matrix printers from three generations ago.”

But Toshiba may be the company that’s connecting most deeply with the financial headaches felt by many Americans, offering cash in return for unused or nonfunctional computer desktops and laptops, video gaming consoles, iPods, cell phones, camcorders and digital cameras. Consumers who visit Toshiba’s website can use an online calculator (similar to RadioShack’s) to instantly gauge the value of their old tech toys. For example, a Dell Intel Pentium M Centrino laptop that works but is in poor condition will fetch $28 (or $52 if it’s in good shape). The items can be shipped to Toshiba for free, and participants are not required to buy anything from Toshiba in return.

How much is the financial crunch spurring a junk-drawer recycling boom? Between 1999 and 2005, Americans recycled about 15 percent of their outdated or broken digital items – a pace that held firm for those six years. In 2007, Americans recycled 18 percent of their old gizmos, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Just during this past July and August alone, Toshiba paid its e-recycling users $8,448 for their unwanted pieces of technology, and the company says 90 percent of the people who use the program are seeking cash in exchange. Many companies are hoping to use the recycling give-backs to tap into this year’s Christmas shoppers.

“We know that consumers are looking for innovative ways to save money,” said Peter Whitsett, the executive vice president of merchandising for RadioShack. “And we think (our) program will help them stretch their dollars in time for the holiday shopping season.”

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