Best Buy Launches Recycle-by-Mail Program – CNET [CNET]

For $30, you can ship a prepaid box filled with up to 15 pounds of unwanted electronics.

This story is part of CNET Zero, a series that chronicles the impact of climate change and explores what’s being done about the problem.

Best Buy is now allowing consumers to mail in unwanted laptops, smartphones and other electronics for recycling. 

Starting this month, two sizes of prepaid boxes are available on the Best Buy website: a 9-by-5-by-3-inch container that can carry up to 6 pounds for $23, and a larger, 18-by-14-by-4-inch box that can carry up to 15 pounds for $30. 

Once you’ve filled it up with approved electronics, you can take the box to a UPS location or arrange for a pickup. 

The recycling-by-mail program is the latest salvo in Best Buy’s campaign to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. In April 2022, the company began offering a haul-away service that picks TVs, appliances and other products for recycling from customers’ homes.

Best Buy bills itself as the largest retail collector of e-waste in the US, having recycled 2.7 billion pounds of electronics and appliances since 2009.

For several years, Amazon’s recycling program has covered shipping costs for tablets, speakers, cables, peripherals and select other devices dropped off at UPS locations.