Best Buy starts selling mail-order recycling boxes

Best Buy today announced the expansion of its electronics recycling program, which allows people to ship electronics from the comfort of their homes. The retailer currently sells prepaid boxes that customers can fill with unwanted tech and send to Best Buy for recycling.

Customers can buy a small box (9×5×3 inches) for $23, which supports up to 6 pounds of unwanted electronics. A medium box (9×5×3 inches) costs $30 and can hold up to 15 pounds. Best Buy’s announcement calls this “nationwide service”a “pilot program.”We have contacted the company about what restrictions this implies and will update this article if we get a response. However, at the time of writing, it appears that the boxes are available for purchase.

While Best Buy already has an in-store recycling program, recycling boxes are for people who may not live near Best Buy or have an easy way to get to it.

The mail-order service is also cheaper than the Best Buy Haul Away program, which costs $200 per trip (or a 20 percent discount for Best Buy Totaltech subscribers) and is best for the larger types of electronics that Best Buy accepts for recycling, such as computer monitors., televisions and refrigerators.

Each box comes with tape, instructions and a prepaid label so customers can pick it up with UPS or leave it. The boxes are good for small electronics that Best Buy’s recycling program accepts, such as cables, mice, keyboards, webcams, landlines, robot vacuums, and CD/DVD drives. You can see the full list of accepted products on the Best Buy website.

Once Best Buy gets your old appliances, he says, they’ll either repair or recycle them. It also claims that its recycling partners will “destroy any data”but recommends that customers also wipe their devices before mailing them.

In its Environment, Social and Governance Report 2022 [PDF], Best Buy stated that its recycling partners go through an “environmental, safety and post-audit process”and are “subject to periodic on-site, on-site and on-site audits.”subsequent stages.”» Recycling partners must also be “ISO 14001 certified, ISO 45001 safety certified or industry equivalent, and certified to eStewards or R2 industry certifications.”

Best Buy’s mail-order recycling program is similar to Office Depot Tech’s recycling boxes, which sell for a lower starting price ($8.39 for an 18×15×8-inch box that supports up to 20 pounds), but you must bring these electronics. stuffed boxes to the office warehouse for recycling. Best Buy joins the likes of Amazon, Apple, Dell, and HP (for printing supplies) in offering mail-order electronics recycling.

Best Buy’s announcement came as the company is trying to reach its long-term goal of zero emissions by 2040. The new mail-order service is a “carbon neutral service,”Best Buy said without elaborating. Best Buy claims to have collected £189m of electronics and home appliances for recycling in fiscal 2022 and has recycled £2.7bn since 2009, when it launched its recycling program. And as we’re sure his public relations team knows, Best Buy’s announcement also comes 17 days before Earth Day.