Get Paid to Return Your E-Waste

Two obstacles to easy electronic waste reclamation -- making it pay and making it worth consumers' time -- will be partly eased, if two companies have their way.

NEW Customer Service Cos. and TechForward are two companies that are trying to make it easier for consumers to return unwanted electronics and keep them out of landfills and closets nationwide.

NEW Customer Service's EcoNOW program will work in concert with as yet unannounced retailers (though it already has relationships with Wal-Mart and Best Buy) to allow consumers to bring any electronics they own into a store and receive an in-store credit. Under TechForward's program, which is already under way in some independent Los Angeles electronics stores, consumers pay a little extra to buy a device in order to receive a guaranteed buyback rate later.

In both cases, the devices are cleaned, refurbished and sold or otherwise reused.

Like most existing e-waste programs, neither of these is perfect. But most existing reclamation models are more onerous to consumers, in the form of levies, reclamation fees or limitations on the types of hardware that can be returned. Potential cost savings on future purchases just sweeten the deal, giving consumers more motivation beyond altruism to be environmentally responsible. If EcoNOW and TechForward prove to be financially viable, more companies might just follow in their footsteps.

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