How to recycle your old electronics the right way, according to e-waste experts

If you got an iPhone, smart TV, or laptop as a holiday gift, you may be facing the age-old dilemma of what to do with your old electronics.

Or maybe you’ve already thrown your now-outdated device in the kitchen junk drawer to languish for years alongside flip phones from the early aughts.

“People want to do the right thing, but they don’t know what to do,” Joe Connors, CEO of the Pennsylvania-based secure e-waste recycler CyberCrunch. Something like an old TV “often ends up in their basement or in their garage.”

There is a better way to bid adieu to these electronics, experts say, and it’s not even that complicated.

“It’s easier than people think,” said Andrew Segal, head of operations at eForce Recycling in Grays Ferry. “A lot of people scratch their heads, [saying] ‘I don’t know what to do with this stuff.’ … [But] there are plenty of electronics recyclers out there.”

The industry has grown in recent decades, particularly after state laws began governing e-waste recycling in the early 2000s.

Let experts answer your questions about how to responsibly dispose of old electronics.

That’s a resounding no.

Throwing out electronics is technically illegal in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and consumers can face fines for disposing of e-waste. As of January, 25 states and D.C. have such laws on the books.

Leaving TVs and other large electronics outside also poses environmental risks.

“The screens wind up getting cracked, and they get rained on, and that all can wash up into the waterways,” Segal said. “It’s not good.”

Only put electronics on the curb if you have arranged a pickup with a certified recycler, experts say.

It can be difficult to find a company that will pick up electronics, e-recycling executives say. Some said they used to recommend the service Retrievr, but it recently paused its Philly-area services indefinitely. If a consumer does find such a service, they say it’s likely to come at a cost.

If an electronic is too heavy to lift alone, and you don’t want to pay for a pickup, experts recommend asking neighbors, friends, or relatives to help get the item into the car. Once you get to a collection site, they say, workers can usually take it from there.

Take it to a certified electronics collection site.

“Google ‘e-waste recycling’ and see what options exist” in your area, said Tricia Conroy, executive director of Minneapolis-based MRM Recycling, which helps electronics manufacturers recycle sustainably. “Most phone carriers will recycle on the spot.”

Other programs and services vary by location, Conroy said.

Philadelphians can drop off items for free at any of Philadelphia’s sanitation convenience centers. And in New Jersey, you can search free sites by county at dep.nj.gov/dshw/rhwm/e-waste/collection-sites.

Elsewhere, you can search for township or county e-recycling events. You can also bring electronics to Goodwill Keystone Area stores, Staples, or Best Buy to be recycled. Call or go online to check a store’s specific e-recycling policy before making the trip.

North Jersey-based Reworld waste management helped design Goodwill’s program in 2024 to “address a gap in Pennsylvania’s electronics recycling infrastructure,” spokesperson Andrew Bowyer said in a statement.

“Prior to its launch, many counties, including densely populated areas around Philadelphia, had limited or fee-based options for recycling electronics — particularly bulky items like televisions — which often led to illegal dumping."

Consumers can also make appointments to drop off devices at places like CyberCrunch in Upper Chichester, said Connors, whose company specializes in data-destruction, e-waste recycling, and reuse.

About 90% of CyberCrunch’s business comes from commercial clients, Connor said. But the Delaware County warehouse, he said, accepts drop-offs from consumers, usually for no fee (with the exception of TVs, which cost money to sustainably discard, Connors said).

Delete all data, experts say.

“Most people, once [a device] leaves their hands, they don’t think about it,” Connors said. And “people don’t think that bad things are going to happen.”

But consumers’ digital information gets stolen every day in increasingly creative ways, Connors said.

To be safe, Connors recommends people remove the SIM cards from all old smartphones, whether they’re sitting in a junk drawer or heading to an e-recycling facility. SIM cards hold much of a user’s important, identifying data. On iPhones, SIM cards are located in a tray on the side of the phone and can be removed by putting a straightened paper clip or similar tool into the tiny hole on the tray.

When removing data from an old laptop, Connors recommends more than a factory reset. Take it to a professional who can wipe the computer clean entirely, he said.

Don’t forget to also remove data from old smart TVs, where users are often logged into multiple apps, including some like Amazon that are connected to banking information, Connors said.