Our computers, peripherals and gadgets use a range of batteries including alkaline batteries, rechargeable batteries, button batteries and UPS batteries. In previous Tech Tips I mentioned that UPS batteries can be recycled at Staples and Interconnection will take laptop batteries but if you want to find one location that’ll take just about every kind of battery then check out the King County Solid Waste Division’s web site. This web page let’s you locate organizations that’ll let you recycle batteries. In fact, their web site helps to find locations to recycle many items including: appliances, carpet, Christmas trees, cleaning products, electronics, fluorescent lights, furniture, microwave ovens, paint and many other items.

Do you have an old UPS (uninterrupted power supply) that you need to recycle? How about a paper shredder? You can recycle both of these items, as well as other items at your Staples office supply store.

I use a UPS, also known as a battery backup, to protect my Mac from power spikes and to keep it running during brief power outages. After years of use, my old UPS died so I wanted to recycle it. Apparently, Staples has teamed up with APC, a manufacturer of UPSs to recycle them. Yesterday, I dropped off my worn-out UPS at a Staples here in Seattle. I was pleasantly surprised that there was no cost. Staples’ web site indicates that there’s a $10 recycle fee, but Staples has a special through the end of the month which includes waiving that fee. If you don’t have a Staples near you, you might be interested to read about APC’s own UPS recycling options.

I also had a paper shredder which had died on me. Staples also took the entire shredder and pledges to recycle it responsibly. The typical $10 recycle fee was waived. The Staples employee also indicated that they’ll offer a slight discount on the purchase of a new paper shredder if you bring in an old one for recycling.

Staples will also recycle rechargeable batteries, digital cameras and GPS devices. They’ll also accept computers, monitors and printers, but indicated that there is typically a $10 recycle fee for these items. This was a bit surprising since Washington enacted a law a couple of years ago which allows for free recycling of such items. As I’ve mentioned in a previous tech tip, I typically recycle my computers and peripherals at Interconnection since they do their best to re-use the equipment rather then simply recycle it.

Seattle City Government recently passed a law requiring companies that print the yellow page phone books to honor opt-out requests by Seattle citizens. If you’d like to opt out of receiving phone books from Dex, Frontier, Super Pages and others then you’ll need to do the following.
Go to Seattle City Government’s web site to read the details of this new system. You’ll be prompted to visit the Catalog Choice web site to create your own account. Once you’ve created your account you can click on the Phone Books button at the top of the web site to select which phone books you would or would not like to receive. You can subsequently opt out of receiving catalogs from other companies as well.

You have choices when you want to re-use, recycle or destroy a hard drive. Let’s look at a few common scenarios to review these choices.

You have a computer that you want to retire or give to somebody else.

In this situation, the hard drive works properly you just want to securely erase your data before you give the computer to another person. Thus, you want to securely erase the hard drive and then reinstall Mac OS X. Follow the instructions in my previous Tech Tip article on how to securely erase a hard drive. If you don’t want to do this work yourself, you could take your computer to an organization like Interconnection orTotal Reclaim. Both of these organizations offer free data wiping of all hard drives on donated computers. I tend to use Interconnection as much as possible since they are a non-profit group that does their best to re-use the computer while Total Reclaim is a for-profit company which focuses on recycling computers and other electronics.

You have either an external hard drive that you want to re-use or sell, but first you want to remove all of your personal data from it.

This is very similar to the first situation. The hard drive works properly and you want to re-use the hard drive. Thus, you should securely erase the data from the hard drive using the instructions in my previous Tech Tip.

You have a hard drive that died that you need to get rid of but you want to make sure that nobody can ever get any of the data on that hard drive.

Since the hard drive is not working properly we can’t securely erase the hard drive as described above. Instead, the hard drive will need to be destroyed. You could either do this yourself or have somebody else do it. If you want to do it yourself you could secure the drive in a drill press and drill a few holes through the drive. This would destroy the circuit boards and, most importantly, the platters containing your data. If you want somebody else to destroy it then I recommend using an organization like Interconnection or Total Reclaim.

If your printer’s toner or ink cartridge is completely empty then it can be put in the trash according to the City of Seattle’s web site. Otherwise, you should recycle it using any of the following methods.

Many office supply stores like OfficeMax, OfficeDepot and Staples typically offer recycling services. Some of them will give you a small store credit if you’ve signed up for their “rewards program”. For example, Staples will let you recycle up to 10 cartridges per user per month and will give you $2 in Staples Rewards.

Check with the store where you purchased the cartridge many offer refill and recycle services including BestBuy and Cartridge World which both have stores in the greater Seattle area.

Look at the instructions in the box of your new laser or ink jet cartridge to find out how to recycle your old one. Many manufacturers will provide instructions, packaging materials and free postage if you wish to recycle your old cartridge, which is then refilled and used again.

Use the Earth911web site to find an organization near you that will recycle printer cartridges.

Have you wondered how to properly dispose of compact fluorescent lamps? Compact fluorescent lamps (CFL or sometimes just CF) are energy efficient bulbs but they contain very small amounts of mercury so they need to be properly handled and thus can’t be put directly in your trash. The City of Seattle’s web site has a page providing tips and information about CF bulbs include the mercury they contain.

To properly dispose of compact fluorescent lamps, also called compact fluorescent bulbs, one can take them to any Take It Back Network recycler who’ll handle fluorescent bulbs, but I find it convenient to take mine to one of the 56 Bartell Drug stores in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Bartell Drugs started their  CF bulb recycling program in 2008. Simply give your unbroken CF bulb to any store clerk or in their recycle bin. Bartell has partnered with Total Reclaim, who says “the used bulbs will be completely recycled, including glass, aluminum, plastic and mercury”.

April 2012 Update: I learned the Puget Sound Energy has a web page which you can use to locate a place to recycle incandescent and/or compact fluorescent light bulbs in your part of Puget Sound.

If you need to try to recover digital photos from your camera’s compact flash (CF) or secure digital (SD) card you should know about Glazer’s Camera’s data recovery services.

Recently, a client needed this service and Glazer’s was able to recover over 1200 RAW and JPEG images from 3 compact flash cards which my client had erased (reformatted) in her camera. My client had already copied the RAW and JPEG images onto an external hard drive but they mysteriously disappeared. Upon discovering that the images were not on the external hard drive I recommended a professional data recovery service which would have cost hundreds of dollars. A friend of my client came up with a faster and much less costly option.

My client took her compact flash cards to Glazer’s where they were able to successfully recover all of the missing images. They charged $30 per card and then copied the recovered images onto her external hard drive. So, if you live in the greater Seattle area and you ever need this service, keep Glazer’s in mind. Of course, to reduce the likelihood that you ever need this service please follow these tips for protecting digital images provided by DriveSavers in one of their recent newsletters.

Do you have occasional shredding needs that are too much for the shredder that you have in your office or at home? If so, you might like to know about Datasite’s residential shredding services This is an excellent service for Puget Sound small office and home office customers.

[Update Nov 2010: Sip & Ship offers a drop off shredding service. They charge $1 per pound of paper or $10 per bankers box. You can drop off paper at either their Ballard or Greenwood location. The shredding is done at their Greenwood location. I've been a long-time user of Sip & Ship's services which I discuss in this Tech Tip.]

[Update Jan 2011: I recently learned that most OfficeMax stores offer a drop off shredding service. A press release shows that OfficeMax teamed up with Shred-It to offer this service about a year ago. In my local OfficeMax store I was told that they charge $.59 per pound of paper. You can drop off paper and they'll store it in a secure storage bin. A truck visits their store weekly to pick up the contents of the storage box and hauls it to Shred-It's shredding facility. For small shredding jobs this is the best value I've found. For larger shredding jobs DataSite's drop-off residential shredding service is an even better value.]

Below are some excerpts from their web site that were current as of the early 2010.

DataSite’s Residential Shredding Service meets the needs of the self-employed as well as serving the occasional shredding needs of any resident of the King – Snohomish County area. We recommend shredding your unnecessary bank statements, invoices, utility bills and miscellaneous private information. Clients collect information in a container either provided by DataSite or one of their own choosing.

Our customers may either drop off the collected material at one of two DataSite facilities, or schedule an on-site shredding appointment.

How much does it cost?

For drop-off service there is a minimum charge of $30.00. This is for up to 7 standard letter legal size records boxes (about the size of a copier paper box) or the equivalent.  Additional boxes are charged at $4.00 per box with additional discounts applied for larger volumes.

Document Destruction Boxes DataSite’s new Document Destruction Boxes may be purchased 3 for $25.00.  This includes the shredding once the containers are full.

Once they’re filled simply drop them off at DataSite for shredding.

On-site shredding is available with a minimum service charge of $75.00.

Where are you located?

DataSite has two convenient drop-off locations

Seattle: 9401 Aurora Ave North

Bellevue: 12000 N.E. 8th, Lower Level

How does it work?

Simply bring your sensitive materials to a DataSite facility and come into the office.  A DataSite staff member will bring a mobile locking tote to your vehicle or for larger volumes a pallet.  We do all the heavy lifting.  These materials are staged for shredding later in the day.  You will be issued a Certificate of Destruction for your records.

Do I have to remove staples and paper clips?  Can you destroy computer media?

No – our state of the art shredding equipment handles staples and paper clips with ease.  Report covers, hard bound books and even x-rays are no problem.