A holiday gift to all: Recycle your old electronics (and get cash back)

With early Black-Friday deals abounding, maybe you're planning on getting some sleek, new electronic item to replace an old clunker. And you’re probably planning on heaving that old computer, TV, printer, or whatever to the curb, right? Do us all a favor and recycle it.

"Cell phones can be loaded with toxic metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, and mercury," says Urvashi Rangan, the director of technical policy at Consumers Union. "Old televisions and computer monitors can contain up to eight pounds of lead. When they break in a landfill, then can pose an environmental and a neurological hazard."

Unfortunately, our recent survey of green behavior found that only 12 percent of consumers are recycling large electronics and 17 percent recycle small electronics.

You don’t even have to be a complete altruist. Sears is offering cash (in the form of a Sears gift card, of course) for your old electronics. Value is based on the quality of the trade-in.

So, please, keep us neurologically sound. GreenerChoices.org offers help in finding places to recycle computers, cell phones, TVs, and more. A number of manufacturers and retailers (like Best Buy, Staples, and Office Depot) also offer recycling services. For more, check out our video: “Getting Rid of Old Electronics." —Nick K. Mandle

Extra Extra: Consumer Reports Electronics Buying Guide is on sale

(Click to enlarge.)

It may be a tad early to start your holiday shopping, but there’s a good chance you’ve at least been thinking about it. Maybe you’ve had a big-ticket gift—like a new TV or home theater—in mind for a while now, but are putting off the purchase till November or December. If it’s sales you’re waiting for, you probably know what you want and how much you’re willing to pay. On the other hand, you might just a teeny bit leery of throwing so much cash at something you know very little about. Which is better: a plasma or LCD TV? Should you upgrade to a Blu-ray player or stick with standard-def DVDs?

If you find yourself in need of expert advice, consider the newest edition of the Consumer Reports Electronics Buying Guide. Inside you’ll find a wealth of information on everything from televisions and computers to smart phones, GPS units, and much more. For each product, the Consumer Reports editors walk you through the basics, explaining what’s available, which features matter, brand profiles, and offering tried-and-true shopping tips.

In addition to product information, the guide offers advice on how to shop smarter, including:

• Netting the best deals online, and protecting yourself when you shop on the Web


• When to repair and when to replace a broken item


• How to haggle effectively


• Finding the best electronics retailer based on our comprehensive annual survey


• How to save—and what to be wary of—with refurbished or open-box products on store shelves


• Where to get free office software, free computer security programs, and more useful freeware

"Green" electronics companies: What the honors mean—and don’t mean

In addition to awarding seals of supposed greenness to products, organizations and publications are also increasingly grading corporations, including many electronics and technology companies, on their environmental policies and practices.

As with the products seals, the result is information that's useful in some ways, and limited in others–as two recent "green corporation" efforts show.

Newsweek recently ranked the 500 largest U.S. companies on their environmental merits. Significantly, four of the top five companies on the list were from the electronics/technology sector; in order of ranking, they are Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Intel, and IBM. (The only non-tech entry in the top five was Johnson & Johnson, at #3.)

The survey used one of the more comprehensive approaches to date to assess corporate greenness. By looking at three main areas—environmental impact, policies and reputation—it offers a snapshot of how companies rank relative to one another.

Samsung Reclaim: Sprint's eco-friendly phone

Today Sprint jumped on eco-friendly bandwagon with the Reclaim (pictured), a new cell phone from Samsung made with recyclable materials that will be available on August 16 for $50 (after a $30 mail-in rebate).

Sprint says that 40 percent of the phone's outer case is made of a "bio-plastic" material derived from corn—and no polyvinyl chloride (PVC), phthalates, and nearly free of brominated flame retardants (BFRs). The accompanying charger, Sprint claims, consumes "12 times less power than the Energy Star standard for standby power consumption," and the packaging is made from 70 percent recycled materials that includes soy-based ink for the printing materials. (Though the company is reaching when it claims not including a printed manual is part of its efforts to be green.)

Measuring 3.87 x 2.32 x 0.61 inches and weighing 3.5 ounces, the Reclaim sports a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 2-megapixel camera with 3x digital zoom and camcorder, Bluetooth stereo, and support for Sprint TV®, the Sprint Music Store, and turn-by-turn GPS navigation. Its interface provides one-click access to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube. It also has several Discovery Channel-produced applications and links to tips on how users can become more "green."

The Reclaim is available in blue or green, but it isn't the first phone with green credentials. At January's CES, Motorola unveiled its own eco-friendly phone called the Renew, which you can also buy for $50 from Motorola's Web site.

Other makers such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson have also unveiled similar green phones, but only as prototypes or concepts. And advocates, including the environmental experts at Consumer Reports, warn that there are many different definitions of what constitutes “greenness” in products, and that the complexity of assessing environmental impact may defy a simple declaration of green status. —Mike Gikas

Image courtesy of Samsung

Walmart’s green ratings may have only modest environmental impact

Walmart’s plan to develop an eco-rating for all the products it sells, including electronics items, is ambitious, “yet may translate into only to only a small step for sustainability,” according to a spokesperson for Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.

The Benton, Arkansas-based retailer’s Sustainable Product Index is expected to provide a snapshot view of each product’s environmental impact during its life cycle, from raw materials through disposal. As a first step in the five-year program, Walmart will assess the sustainability of its more than 100,000 suppliers worldwide. Each supplier will be asked to respond to a 15-question survey (PDF) that covers energy and climate; material efficiency; natural resources; and people and community.

Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., CU's director of Technical Policy, says that "collecting detailed product information and translating it into a simple green rating is a complex task and, ultimately, only as accurate as the data and evaluation that goes into a life-cycle analysis.”

As we’ve covered before, there's already a multiplicity of approaches in the marketplace to so-called green ratings. 

For more on the Walmart initiative, see the post by our colleagues on the Home and Garden blog. We also have a host of other information available on the environmental dimensions of electronics gear.  

Shopping Best Buy for… Motorcycles?

Picture this: One day, you walk into your local Best Buy and instead of walking out with the latest HDTV or hippest piece of mobile electronics, you...

Ride out on a fully street- and highway-legal electric-powered motorcycle.

Far-fetched? Not for long.

According to a recent post (Brammo electric motorcycles coming to Best Buy) in our Cars Blog, Best Buy has entered into an agreement to begin selling Brammo motorcycle’s Enertia, a two-wheeler powered completely by rechargeable batteries.

According to Brammo’s CEO, Craig Bramscher, the idea of working with an electronics store came out of the realization that the Enertia contained just as many electronic components as automotive parts.

So now, Best Buy gets to sell motorcycles.

One cell phone charger for all: Coming, if not soon

There’s renewed drive in the cell phone industry to eliminate the multiplicity of cell phone charging connectors that results in almost every manufacturer—and sometimes every model line or even model— requiring its own charger.

That lack of standardization is a confusing hassle for multiphone families—and for engineers here at Consumer Reports, who test phones by the dozen for our Ratings of cell phones and smart phones (available to subscribers).

It’s also a growing environmental issue. Chargers discarded due to switching phones create an estimated 50,000 tons or more of landfill every year, according the Global System for Mobile Communications Association, a trade group representing some cell phone carriers.

The good news: The CTIA, the primary trade association for U.S. cellphone carriers has endorsed an initiative to standardize the multiplicity of cellphone connectors to one design. According to PCWorld, that design will likely be based on the micro-USB connector now used in the Motorola Razr, several phones from HTC, and the BlackBerry Storm and Curve 8900. The proposal also calls for charging at a standardized voltage, using chargers that are themselves more green—by, for example, being more efficient in standby mode than some chargers used by today's cell phones.

Environmental roundup: A wealth of useful info

From information on recycling used gadgets to energy efficiency, Consumer Reports can help you keep the planet green, and save a little of the green stuff in your wallet. In honor of Earth Day, here are seven environmentally friendly resources to be found in the Consumers Union family of web sites:

1. This blog. Check out our periodic reports, reviews, and commentary on environmental products and trends on the electronics industry. Save some cash and keep a gadget from ending it up in the garbage by investigating refurbished or open box products.   Click on the “Environmental/Green” index at the bottom of this blog to see what else we’ve covered.

2. Greener Choices. Our sister site, GreenerChoices.org, is a treasure trove of consumer eco-info. Instead of filling up landfills, with your old computers, cell phones, TVs (which may contain toxic parts) check out your other options at the Electronics Reuse and Recycling Center.

Also, check out what that environmental-sounding product label really means, which manufacturers offer free recycling programs, and how to calculate your carbon footprint.

3. Our buying advice. After you’ve bought a TV, camera, or other electronic device, its energy consumption may have you spending more green(backs) than you expected. For example, did you know that plasma TVs consume more energy than LCDs? How about what to look for to keep your computer energy efficient? Before you buy, see our expert’s advice at the Electronics page at ConsumerReports.org.

4. Our Ratings. Which AA batteries will give you the most juice for snapping more shots? Which laptops run the longest before needing a recharge? In addition to testing for performance and ease of use, our lab technicians take energy considerations into account. Most of our Ratings are available only to subscribers.

5. Consumer Reports on Home, Garden, and Appliances. How does that fridge or air conditioner do, energy-wise? Take a look at the Earth Day Guide to find out. Their blog is also chock-full of tips and news on slashing bills and making your home more energy efficient.

6. Consumer Reports Cars. Looking for a fuel-saving car? Check out the Guide to Driving Green, as well as the Cars blog, for help. 

7. CR Money.  OK, not exactly the kind of “green” Earth Day is advocating, but given the current economic climate, why not cruise over and see what our financial experts are saying? They’re green-minded all year long. —Nick K. Mandle

Sony's new in-store recycling program for small electronics gets an Earth Day launch

Ever wish there was an easy, convenient way to recycle older small electronics? Thanks to a new Sony recycling effort called GreenFill, recycling small electronics, such as digital cameras, cell phones, portable media players, and even laptop computers, could be as simple as dropping it into a box at a local retailer.

The GreenFill project is an extension of Sony's Take Back recycling program, which allows customers to drop off larger electronic products, such as TVs, at more than 270 drop-off locations. There's no charge for Sony-branded items, and other brands are accepted for a small fee. The Take Back program received the highest, albeit not exactly glowing, marks in a recent evaluation of manufacturers' TV recycling programs by the Electronics TakeBack Coalition.

The GreenFill recycling program, however, is free of charge, regardless of brand. Just bring your unwanted items into a participating retailer and drop them into a GreenFill e-Recycle Drop Box located inside the store. So far, 81 retail stores have joined the GreenFill program, and Sony expects others to join in coming months. You can find a list of permanent drop-off locations on Sony's green website.

Earth Day tips: 7 ways to greener printing

1. Print on both sides of the page. Some new printers offer automatic two-sided printing (many manufacturers call this feature “automatic duplexing"), but if your printer doesn’t, print the odd pages in your document first, then turn the paper over and print the even ones.

2. Instead of printing out e-mails, Web pages, and other documents, read them on your computer screen. A free application called CutePDF makes that simpler by turning such items into easy-to-read PDFs. 

3. Download the free application GreenPrint, which analyzes what you’re printing and skips pages with little or no content.

4. If you’ve got an inkjet and you’re printing text-only or Web pages that you don’t need in color, set your printer to use only black ink. If you’re printing pages that don’t need to be highest quality, choose draft mode or a similar setting that uses less ink.

5. Ink monitors can be inaccurate. Don’t change your ink cartridge as soon as the monitor says you’re running low. Wait until you actually see a decrease in the quality of your prints.

6. Recycle used ink cartridges and old printers. Policies vary among manufacturers. For example, some companies recycle their own brand of ink cartridges for free but charge a small fee for other brands.

7. Check our printer Ratings (available to subscribers), which include an evaluation of how effectively a model conserves power when it’s inactive. —Donna Tapellini