Best Buy Eliminates E-Waste Recycling Fee

Best Buy will now accept all electronics with screens, including televisions and computers, free of charge. Photo: Flickr/view from 5’2″

Responsibly disposing of TVs, computers and other e-waste items just got a little more affordable. Best Buy announced on Thursday that it will eliminate a $10 recycling fee for electronics items with screens to make its recycling program more convenient for customers.

The company’s in-store recycling program accepts TVs, computers and computer monitors, DVD players, cell phones and other types of consumer electronics. Items with tube screens of up to 32 inches and flat panel screens of up to 60 inches are eligible but formerly carried a disposal price tag at the retail giant. Other e-waste items, including printer cartridges and cell phones, were always accepted for free.

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The Minneapolis-based retailer said its programs collected 83 million pounds of electronics and 73 million pounds of appliances at its 1,367 U.S. stores in 2010, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.

The volume of collections has already increased by 50 percent this year, as e-waste recycling becomes more common and state laws become more strict, Best Buy spokesperson Kelly Groehler told TwinCities.com. The company hopes that nixing the disposal fee will increase recycling volumes even more as America Recycles Day approaches.

READ: Is America’s E-Waste Problem Over?

While cutting the $10 fee makes recycling e-waste easier for consumers, they will still have to pay for in-home pickups. The retailers charges $100 to pick up electronics of any size but waives the fee if you purchase a replacement at their store.

Best Buy expects these changes to the recycling program and the growing popularity of electronics recycling to increase collection to 1 billion pounds by 2014, reports Stocks and Shares.

SEE: What Really Happens to Your E-Waste