UPS Recycling

I attended a virtual conference hosted by Information Week magazine a couple of weeks ago. The theme of the conference is "Green IT." I visited a virtual booth by American Power Corporation (APC), a worldwide company that makes UPS and found out that they also recycle.

So, what's a UPS? Some readers may ask. UPS stands for Uninterruptible Power Supply. This is a device that provides battery backup for computers in case there's a power failure. The UPS will give you some time (typically around 5 to 15 minutes) to be able to save anything that you are doing or until an auxiliary power (generator) is turned on.

APC placed this recycling link on their virtual booth and I had to check it out. I remember early in my career that we used APC branded UPS on one of our client sites.

On the website, they give people 4 options to trade, recharge, or recycle old UPS devices instead of throwing it away.

Option 1: Trade UPS - you can trade any brand of old UPS for a new one.

Option 2:Replacement Battery Cartridges - you can trade or replace your old APC UPS battery and they will dispose the old battery in an eco-friendly manner.

Option 3: Certified Pre-Owned - provides eco-friendly disposal of your old APC UPS device and you can buy an APC certified Pre-Owned UPS at a lower cost.

Option 4: Staples Eco-Easy Recycling Program - APC teamed up with Staples for recycling battery backups. You can bring your battery to any US Staples store for recycling. There's a $10 recycling fee (per piece) to cover the handling, transport, product disassembly and recyling.

Batteries, if improperly disposed, can harm the environment. Should you have any old UPS devices that are not being used, here's the recycling option for you.

Enjoy and happy recycling!

Recycling at Best Buy

I dropped by Best Buy last weekend to get a copy of Wall-E for my kids. I accidentally saw that they have a recycling bin near their door. Best Buy accepts several items for recycling - Cellphones, PDAs, Pagers, Compact Discs, Inkjet cartridges, Used Gift Cards and Rechargeable batteries. According to their sign, a portion of the proceeds are donated to charity.
If you do not have the recyclable item with you, you can bring home a postage-paid bag and use it to send your recyclable item.
Below are the bags that Best Buy provides for Inkjet and Cellphone recycling. Since it's already postage-paid, just put your recyclable item in it, drop it in the mail and you don't have to pay for anything.


(Disclaimer: I am not an employee of Best Buy and I do not own any of their shares. The details above are for informational purposes only.)

Recycling at IKEA

I have seen recycling at work at IKEA stores and I was only able to take pictures of their recycling programs about a couple of weeks ago. IKEA has been promoting recycling and reducing waste throughout their stores.

One of the things they eliminated is the use of plastic bags. If a customer wanted a plastic bag, they will be charged 5 cents for it. This was started last March 15 and the proceeds on the first year of this program are donated to American Forests (a non-profit conservation organization). The customer is also given an option to buy a reusable bag for 59 cents as an alternative to the plastic bags.

Below are the recycling bins for plastic and paper that you will see throughout the store.
IKEA also has a recycling bin for Aluminum Cans, Glass Bottles and Plastic Bottles.
They also have a recycling center where you can drop off Bulbs (Compact Flourescent, Incandescent and Halogen) and Batteries (L.I.O., Alkaline and N.I.M.H).
For more information regarding IKEA's program, please visit their website.

(Disclaimer: I am not an employee of IKEA and I do not own any of their shares. The details above are for informational purposes only.)