Filed under: Business + Politics, Waste + Recycling | Tags: Clover Technology Group, e-waste, electronics, ewaste, Mail Back, recycling, skateboarding, USPS
Photo: Max Knight, flickr
I don’t skateboard.
I’ve tried, but I never really got the hang of it. The last (and final) time I tried, I fell and cracked the screen of my phone. The proper way to describe the phone would be unusable, but I like to say it was totally thrashed.
The USPS knows there are people out there like me, people with electronics that are no longer usable. Knowing the toxicity of electronics, the USPS has set up a novel program to recycle electronics called Mail Back.
Instructions:
1. Go to the post office.
2. Pick up a pre-paid envelope.
3. Insert totally thrashed cell phone along with dreams of becoming a professional skateboarder.
4. Seal envelope and send it off.
Yes, people, it’s that easy with the Mail Back program. Your postage is care of Clover Technology Group, the company that won the USPS’s love and manages the electronic waste. Your PDAs, iPods, ink cartridges, digicams, and other small electronics are refurbished, reused, recycled, and never sent to the landfill. This program is a first for the USPS and as such it is only available in 10 areas across the country including Washington DC, Chicago, LA, and San Diego. If well received, the program will go national this fall.
via: Planet Green, USPS Press Release
7 Comments so far
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I really like how some people come up with ideas to profit off of other peoples used stuff, junk or trash. Very cool.
Comment by Salman Agah March 18, 2008 @ 10:00 pmHopefully they are thinking about the environment and not just profit. Either way, this program is good for both and I think it’s a cool idea.
Bobby
Comment by bobbygrace March 21, 2008 @ 9:25 amBobby,
Comment by j500 March 24, 2008 @ 8:03 pmExcellent tip! Take a look at this video from Sundance about the USPS and the way they are redesigning mailers to make them more eco-friendly. Designing for the environment is one of my favorite things. Maybe someday you’ll get a shred-proof phone.
Simran
[...] student in Professor Simran Sethi’s Media and the Environment course at the University of Kansas originally published this to the course blog on March 18, [...]
Pingback by Mail Back: USPS to recycle e-waste free of charge | Technophobiac Lifestyle March 25, 2008 @ 11:27 am[...] student in Professor Simran Sethi’s Media and the Environment course at the University of Kansas originally published this to the course blog on March 18, 2008. I don’t skateboard. I’ve tried, but I never really got the hang of it. The [...]
Pingback by Mail Back: USPS to recycle e-waste free of charge - GreenBlog.ir March 25, 2008 @ 11:33 amSimran,
Comment by bobbygrace March 25, 2008 @ 9:58 pmSpeaking of redesigning the shipping industry for efficiency, UPS has ingeniously cut down on transportation costs through reducing left hand turns.
Bobby
Indeed! The left-hand turns are notorious in green business convos. Eco-efficiencies drive much of this process but are the steps to bigger change.
Comment by j500 March 26, 2008 @ 10:17 amSimran