Petition Asking Best Buy To Stop Charging Customers a Recycling Fee.

Originally posted on my blog: HannaWrites.com

Hello everyone:

Due to a mold issue in our current apartment here in Fort Lauderdale Florida, my husband and I are moving to a newer apartment complex.  

As many of you know, moving can be stressful, but liberating at the same time – getting rid of clutter that no longer serves us and making room for new things / adventures – ala Marie Kondo or Swedish Death Cleaning methods.

Prior to our move, we decluttered by taking our old Flat Screen TV to Best Buy to have it recycled.  
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Like many of you, we’ve seen the films showing the horrific impact of electronic waste [e-waste] and cannot in good conscience dump our old TVs, computers, cell phones, etc. into a dumpster.

[video:https://vimeo.com/95789417]

THE E-WASTE TRAGEDY - opening sequence from Media 3.14 on Vimeo.

According to its website: “Best Buy has collected and responsibly disposed of more than 1 billion pounds of electronics and appliances, making it the largest retail collection program in the U.S.”

We were shocked to learn that a profitable store like Best Buy would charge us $25 to recycle our old Flat Screen TV.  I mentioned to the sales associate that this fee would actually deter others from recycling.

Below is a petition that I’ve created on Change.org asking Best Buy to stop charging a recycling fee to its customers. Please consider signing it here:

Best Buy, Please Stop Charging Your Customers A Recycling Fee.

This fee will reduce the effectiveness of your amazing recycling efforts and more importantly add an additional burden to our ravaged planet.

Click Here

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Comments

thanatokephaloides's picture

If so, a superior alternative might have been to put it up on various local Free Stuff lists and give it away to someone who could use it.

(Working electronics in landfills is an old pet peeve of mine going back to the analog era!)

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Daenerys's picture

We have so much old junk lying around needing to be got rid of, but recycling/trash collection is so expensive. It makes the task of cleaning up the house seem an insurmountable challenge. Recycling/trash collection should be paid for with taxes, but that's another rant for another time.

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This shit is bananas.

Lily O Lady's picture

pretty lucky.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

@Lily O Lady You are lucky to be living in a community that recycles E-waste. Do you live in California? According to an article on Best Buy’s blog: "Best Buy’s Recycling Program Is Changing. Here’s How And Why." , it’s a nationwide policy to charge $25 to recycle TVs & computer monitors.

When I re-read the Best Buy / Recycling policy statement, I noticed that:

“There are no store drop-off fees in California. Stores in Connecticut and Pennsylvania do not accept TVs for drop-off.” Also note that: “Stores in Connecticut, Illinois and Pennsylvania do not accept monitors for drop-off.”

Thank you for commenting.
Hanna

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"Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money." --Nineteenth century Nēhilawē (Cree) proverb

Lily O Lady's picture

@Natural-Writes

Georgia. Our city may be somewhat unique.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

gulfgal98's picture

@Lily O Lady

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@thanatokephaloides Hi thanatokephaloides. It was about 15yrs old and no longer a reliable TV set. You're right though, whenever possible, I try to donate working items to a local Goodwill store. Will look into the Free Stuff list in the future. Thank you for the tip. Hanna

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"Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money." --Nineteenth century Nēhilawē (Cree) proverb

TheOtherMaven's picture

@Natural-Writes

It's worth finding out if your local one does.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

In CA I have dropped off DVD and VHS players for recycling with no charge. Could this store policy change state to state? Is it a new policy in 2018?

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@jbob I see from the other comments it is new and not in effect in CA. Note to self: read first, comment after.

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