Whether you have an old phone languishing in a desk drawer or a broken laptop gathering dust in the back of a closet, there will never be a better time to dispose of it. There’s a good chance your unwanted gadget can return to useful service, and it may even make you a little cash or help someone else. Recycling should be the last resort, but if there’s nothing else for your gadget, there are ways to recycle electronics responsibly.

Global ewaste topped 50 million metric tons in 2019, according to the United Nations Global Ewaste Monitor, and just 17.4 percent of that waste was collected and recycled. Too many old electronics end up in landfills and hellish ewaste graveyards where they poison communities. The problem is only growing worse. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) forum estimates that 5.3 billion phones dropped out of use last year alone. Governments, companies, and people are waking up to the fact that we must do better. The big question is, how? Here are some resources, services, and ideas that can help. 

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Before you throw devices away, consider using them for a little longer. Do you really need to upgrade? If you are dead set on shopping for a new device, do your research to find ethical and eco-friendly electronics. Look for manufacturers and retailers with trade-in and recycling programs. 

You should also consider buying products used on eBay or other marketplaces, or look for refurbished devices. Manufacturers like Apple and Samsung offer refurbished devices at a discount, and you can find loads of refurbished goods at Amazon. Elizabeth Chamberlain, director of sustainability at iFixit, recommends Back Market for refurbished phones. 

Passing devices onto family members, friends, and neighbors who can use them is the best way to squeeze maximum value out of them. “Don’t let devices hibernate in a junk drawer or closet and waste away,” says Jeff Seibert, who works at SERI (Sustainable Electronics Recycling International). “Get them into someone else’s hands who can use them as quickly as possible because the older devices get, the less positive impact they can make.”

If you don’t know anyone who can use your old electronics, try the Freecycle Network or local Buy Nothing groups to find folks interested in freebies.

Whether you plan to squeeze a bit more out of a device, want to pass it along to someone, or plan on selling it, repairing or refurbishing it first is a smart move. If you want to try and repair a device, iFixit is a great place to start. It boasts more than 90,000 step-by-step repair guides covering phones, tablets, laptops, computers, game consoles, and cameras.

YouTube is another great place to find repair videos, and Chamberlain recommends checking out repair techs like Louis Rossmann, Jessa Jones, Ben’s Appliances and Junk, and Rich Rebuilds, but there's no shortage of repair videos for the specific gadget you're looking for.

To meet repair experts face-to-face and learn how to fix your own gadgets, look for a repair café in your area. These local pop-up events offer free advice and knowledge exchange from expert repairers to help people in the neighborhood get stuff fixed. Instead of dropping devices off for repair, you sit with the expert and learn how to troubleshoot for yourself. The Restart Project is a good resource for folks in the UK looking to repair or donate devices.