I had a domestic calamity at the end of last year that forced me (and a bunch of my stuff) to move out of my rented townhouse for a few weeks. It was a big pain. But I tried to look at this as yet another character-building event (futile as that may be at this very late stage), and used the unanticipated “opportunity” to clean out and upgrade some of my belongings gathering dust and other residues in the place. In that category were things like a venerable old microwave oven, and a printer that no longer would connect to my newish MacBook. What does a person do with this stuff? It seems as though the rules for what can be recycled and what should be tossed change with shifting landfill disposal regulations and the uncertainties associated with domestic and overseas recycling markets. Should I just leave it in the back of my car so that the next time it is broken into, the old technology stuff will just vanish like my registration, sunglasses and the coins in the cupholder? These were the questions that kept me awake at night (yes, pretty sad, I know).
I am happy to report that there are plenty of resources in the Seattle area that will help you to divest of at least some of your worldly goods, in a way that doesn’t completely waste the considerable resources that went into originally making those goods. Some items are easier to dispose of than others. While I wound up driving to Renton to drop off my microwave oven, I parted with the old printer in our own back yard (NOT literally), in the lower Wallingford and Fremont Neutral Zone. InterConnection Electronics Recycling and Refurbishment Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that takes your old or unneeded computer equipment and refurbishes/recycles it to benefit underserved communities nationwide and around the world. And while they are located just off Stone Way, the apparently never-ending construction project in that area makes it a little challenging to find them. Relying only on my Maps app got me close, but I had to park and look around a little to find their location. They are northeast of Fremont Brewing N. 35th, and in the same block as Wet Clay Cafe. Fortunately—they do mark their loading dock pretty well, where I was able to deposit my printer as well as a box of ink cartridges. It couldn’t have been easier, and the folks there were super nice.
The sad reality of our world and our times is that we still live in a planned obsolescence economy, where the electronics we love and rely upon last only so long. Once they have lived out their useful lives, then they morph into challenges for recycling and disposal. InterConnection helps to prolong the utility of computers and related items, while maximizing recycling and reuse options.
InterConnection is located at 1121 N. 35th Street, and their dropoff hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m..
I just made my first drop at InterConnection last week. Glad to see it get some publicity.