Check out the full list of what staples accepts now part of their expanded recycling programs.
https://www.staples.com/stores/recycling#workingtowardsabrightertomorrow
More companies should start to follow staples lead and offer return points for packaging and products that reach their end of life.
Kudos to Staples, their stores might see me more often.
We’ll gladly accept and responsibly recycle the following:
Adapters & hubs
Apple® AirTag® trackers
Battery backup devices
Cable/satellite receivers
Calculators
Car & wall chargers
CD/DVD/Blu-ray discs & players
Coffee brewers (less than 40 lb.)
Computers & Mac®
Computers
Computer speakers
Connected home devices
Digital & video cameras
Digital projectors
Earbuds & AirPods®
Fax machines
Flash drives
Gaming consoles & controllers
GPS devices
Hard drives
Headphones & headsets
Keyboards & mice
Label makers
Laminators
Laptops & MacBook®
Mobile phones & iPhone®
Monitors (CRT, LED/LCD, plasma)
MP3 players & iPod®
Printers & multifunction devices
Routers & modems
Scanners
Shredders
Small servers
Smart speakers & HomePod®
Smart watches & Apple Watch®
Stereo receivers
Streaming devices & Apple TV®
Stylus pens & Apple Pencil®
Tablets, iPad® & eReaders
USB & Lightning® cables
Webcams
I worked for Staples in my college years. They used to throw away bales upon bales of recyclable products every day while pumping up their image as a green place to shop or whatever. Maybe it was just the management of that specific store. Anyway, good on Staples for offering recycling services.
Unfortunately this could be the case and the cynic in me feels this could be a green washing scheme like you said.
But hopefully with what some cities are doing now with charging the full economic and social cost of blue & black bin programs to companies and manufactures this could start having a real good impact.
Specially since most manufactures shift the cost of recycling and trash to communities and tax payers. Instead this cost should be internalised by the manufacturer and retailer.
Hopefully this kind of shift promotes better sustainable packaging, and prevents things like planed obsolescence and fast fashion.
The cost of paper and plastic recycling is passed on with the co-operation of government. Their interests are aligned with those of industry. The cost is handballed (‘externalized’ if you want the slime term) first to individuals and ultimately to the environment. With moral hazards like this I wouldn’t expect substantial change to be driven by authorities. It’s going to take technological breakthroughs.
Does anyone know some of the finer grained details of this recycling program? I’m not exactly a regular Staples customer, but I definitely have some shit that is better off recycled. Like no chance of fixing a few phones I’ve found smashed in the road…
For at least the last five years, the Staples in the Boulder 29th St Mall takes any electronics you have for recycling. The process is you hand it to them or drop it in a box they have sitting there.
Unsure if this applies to other Staples, but at least that one in Boulder, 29th St Mall, does this easy
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