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Many Stores Accepting Used Electronics And More

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

Recyclable items wait to be picked up for recycling at the Best Buy on Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa.

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By RICHARD MULLINS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 19, 2009

TAMPA - About a month ago, Best Buy Co. told customers they could start bringing back old electronics to their nearest store for recycling.

Boy, did people show up. They showed up with old stereos, computers, printers, fax machines, toasters, copiers and televisions. Lots of televisions.

"Some items are so old, we think we should put that in a museum behind glass," said Jon Thomas, manager of the Best Buy at 1725 N. Dale Mabry Highway. "We've also seen some huge old TVs built to look like furniture cabinets."

A small warehouse space at the location fills up several times a week with old electronics to haul away in trucks.

Best Buy is among a growing club of retail stores offering to take back old products, partly for good publicity, partly to drive more foot traffic into stores in a down economy. Some stores even offer gift cards and perks for customers who bring in old stuff.

When Ikea opens its Ybor City store in May, it will accept old batteries, plastic bags and compact fluorescent bulbs. The Home Depot will also take back CFL bulbs. (The bulbs use less energy but contain mercury.)

Wal-Mart has started accepting some old products, including Elmer's glue bottles and glue sticks collected by schools, and will pay postage for anyone to send in their old cell phones.

Many Cartridge World locations will take back old printer cartridges and cell phones. Sony will take back its old products at no cost through a partnership with Waste Management.

For consumers, the offer is a lot more convenient than taking old items to government-owned landfills. Hillsborough County, for example, only accepts old electronics at existing landfills, and only on certain weekends each month for certain facilities. Pinellas County is a bit more lenient, but consumers must be county residents to use the recycling facilities.

As with most retail programs, there are caveats.

Best Buy charges $10 to take back some TVs, computer monitors and laptop computers, though that's offset with a $10 gift card at the store.

To avoid handling personal information, Best Buy asks customers to remove hard drives from computers or pay the company's Geek Squad $20 to erase data on drives. The store also won't accept anything with Freon gas, like air conditioners. It also does not accept appliances or "console" televisions larger than 32" that resemble furniture, unless customers buy a new version and have it delivered.

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919.

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