TechTheDay

Image source: Droid-life

So what do you do with your old phone after you bought a new one? Do you just throw it away? What about a laptop? What do you do with your old electronics? Do you just store them somewhere and forget about it?

The thing is that throwing it away or just letting it gather dust in some corner of your cabinet seems pretty wasteful and dangerous, even if it is sent to a recycling factory. Unless you are actually collecting electronics to create your own museum  someday there’s a better way to handle electronics you don’t need, you can’t have fixed, or is obsolete. Here’s what most people do with theirs:

Image source: Notebookcheck.net

1. Sell them. Selling electronics you don’t need is the number one most people do. And there’s a lot of online groups that deals with old phones, old computers and old laptops. Its also a great way to get your money back and use it to buy the next big thing. Planning to upgrade that PC? Sell the old part if it isn’t broken. Old or used electronic goods is a commodity, especially in Third-World countries where the use of the old and the new happens. There’s Amazon Trade-In, BestBuy, Nextworth, Gazelle, E-bay, and a lot of others to choose from.
2. Reuse them. Reusing old electronics is the second ideal thing to do with the old stuff you have. If they’re not actually broken why not give them away to people who might need it. Say you got this new phone and the old one is still okay to use, give it to someone who doesn’t have a phone, like you little siblings or your kids. You can use it to teach them about being responsible before buying them something more expensive. If you’re the type of person who buys new phones every year, buy your old one a new casing and give it to someone as a gift. An LCD LED old monitor can be turned into a TV, if you don’t have a TV. An old smartphone in good condition is a great way to test the compatibility of your apps if you’re a developer, or the responsiveness of your webpage, if you’re a web designer. You might also want to turn your old smartphone into a music player, just buy some speakers. There’s a lot of games out there too so why not turn your old smartphone into a handheld gaming device? There’s a lot of emulators out there and if your smartphone has a good processor and and RAM. You can even keep using your old phone as one you use only at home while the new one is what you use when you’re outside(or vice-versa if you feel a bit paranoid).
3. Recycle or let others recycle it for you. It’s kind or related to both 1 and 2. Every once in a while we find ourselves that we can’t have our electronic gadgets fixed. So what are we gonna do? We can just throw them away now, right? Sure. But if, say, the only damage in your laptop is the battery, you might want pry your laptop open and take out the hard drive, then sell the rest to someone who fixes electronic gadgets. Original parts are hard to find and having some to sell would do your wallet well, especially if its a smartphone or a laptop. As for the hard drive earlier? Buy a enclosure and use it to store files or important stuff, like copies of your OS installer, your PC games, music, and movies.

Image source: Amazon

Conclusion
You really don’t have to throw away your old electronic gadgets. Most of the time they’re manufactured to stand up to the test of time, so why not use them as intended until they can’t anymore? Not only will you be saving yourself cash you’re doing Mother Earth a favor too.