What do with with a printer that's broken?

[Hedy]

We had to replace our printer as it was broken. I can (obviously) google for this, but are there any places you have experience with that take broken printers to be recycled?

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

You could contact a technical school to see if they would want it for spare parts or teaching purposes. Or if you know a computer-crazy teen in the neighborhood who might like to tear one apart to see how it works, you might give it to him/her.

 

[tink2dw]

Place it on the FREE Board on Craigslist!! www.craigslist.com on the right find your State and City, the place a free, no fee ad!! Some will take to fix it. And if not well you are no worse off.

 

[Hedy]

Place it on the FREE Board on Craigslist!! www.craigslist.com on the right find your State and City, the place a free, no fee ad!! Some will take to fix it. And if not well you are no worse off.

I tried that with an old printer I got replaced under warranty (it was an all-in-one, so the scanner still worked). All I got was a money order scam, so I'm a little loathe to try it again.

Thanks for the suggestion, m4m. I'll try e-mailing our technical school.

 

[Disneefun]

Try the manufacturer's website. Some computer/printer manufacturers now offer to take back items and recycle them. You may have to pay shipping, but since it's broken you could send it the lowest cost way.

Otherwise I agree with the other posters. Try craigslist or a technical school. There are also some used printer/computer dealers who may take it if they think they can fix it for cheap and then sell it for more than the repair. Try your yellow pages under "computers" or similar.

Some communities have recycling days for computers and related parts. I know around here it's about once per quarter, although we live in a tech heavy area. They'll take computers, printers, cell phones etc. and recycle the parts. Some communities also offer computer/printer recycling all the time -- although not part of the curbside program. You'd have to go to a recycling center. Call your municipality and ask.

BTW, I applaud you for wanting to recycle it rather than toss it in the landfill.

 

[formernyer]

Unless it's a very high-end printer which might still have eBay value even though it's broken, my suggestion is to throw it in the trash and forget about it.

 

[rflorek]

Unless it's a very high-end printer which might still have eBay value even though it's broken, my suggestion is to throw it in the trash and forget about it.

NEVER throw electronics in the trash - don't add to the landfills!! Look for a local electronics recycling center/company. My county, for example, has consumer household electronics recycling drop-off days once a week. They take compuetrs, monitors, printers, tvs, telephones, etc.

 

[formernyer]

NEVER throw electronics in the trash - don't add to the landfills!! Look for a local electronics recycling center/company. My county, for example, has consumer household electronics recycling drop-off days once a week. They take compuetrs, monitors, printers, tvs, telephones, etc.

We don't have recycling laws here. Yes, I know I'll get flamed for not caring enough for the environment, but I don't go out of my way making special trips to various recycle centers and dumps. I live 10-20 miles from just about everything, I get 12 miles to the gallon if I'm lucky, and gas is $3.05 per gallon now. It's just not something I'm going to do until I'm forced to.

 

[Hedy]

Try the manufacturer's website. Some computer/printer manufacturers now offer to take back items and recycle them. You may have to pay shipping, but since it's broken you could send it the lowest cost way.

Otherwise I agree with the other posters. Try craigslist or a technical school. There are also some used printer/computer dealers who may take it if they think they can fix it for cheap and then sell it for more than the repair. Try your yellow pages under "computers" or similar.

Some communities have recycling days for computers and related parts. I know around here it's about once per quarter, although we live in a tech heavy area. They'll take computers, printers, cell phones etc. and recycle the parts. Some communities also offer computer/printer recycling all the time -- although not part of the curbside program. You'd have to go to a recycling center. Call your municipality and ask.

BTW, I applaud you for wanting to recycle it rather than toss it in the landfill.

Looks like HP has a program. Thanks for the suggestion-I'll try my mom's old school and our local voc tech, and then maybe do HP's program.

 

[JuneChickie]

We put ours and a few outdated monitors on "craigslist" for free.
Also had old keyboards , cords , a printer , zip drives , etc , we were
cleaning house for our move.

We had over 25 emails for people wanting it. I made it clear that
most of the items didn't work , but were free.

It was gone by the next morning *********

I love Craigslist