The holidays are upon us and you know what that means…tons of new electronics for the masses. But what about all the old, unwanted electronics that have been stuffed away in America’s closets, junk drawers, garages, attics and basements? Forgive me while I switch into annoying, lecture-y Green Mom mode for a moment—I strongly recommend you don’t just throw that stuff in the trash because, believe it or not, electronics are loaded with heavy metals and toxins that will eventually end up being incinerated and polluting our air or leaching into our groundwater. And? It’s illegal is some locales. But you DO have options—if your city has an electronics recycling program, use it because it’s probably the easiest option of all. But if you’re not that lucky don’t despair because there are several companies that have finally decided to step up  help consumers responsibly recycle their e-waste.

Behold…

THE GMF LIST OF RECYCLING AWESOMETASTICNESS:

Costco - Costco will accept all computers, LCD monitors, digital cameras, camcorders, game systems & MP3 players and recycle them for FREE—plus, your item(s) may have potential trade-in value, remitted to you in the form of a Costco Cash card. Sounds like a win-win to us! Check here for more info.

Staples -  Staples accepts used computers, monitors, laptops, and desktop printers, faxes and all–in–ones to any U.S. Staples store. All brands are accepted with a nominal recycling fee of $10 per piece of large equipment used to cover handling, transport, product disassembly and recycling. Smaller computer peripherals such as keyboards, mice, and speakers are accepted at no charge. Staples also offers $3 in Staples Rewards toward a future purchase of ink or toner when HP, Lexmark™ or Dell cartridges are returned to our retail stores for recycling. Get all the details here.

Dell - Dell will recycle your unwanted Dell-branded Product for free plus, if you buy a new Dell desktop or notebook and select the free recycling option at the time of purchase, they will recycle your old PC and monitor at no cost to you. Get all the details here.

Sony - Sony will take back any Sony product for recycling. Just find your local drop-off location and hand it over. Sony also offers a trade in program for Sony laptops and camcorders that will net you a credit towards the purchase of a new Sony laptop or camcorder (some restrictions apply). See Sony’s recycling page for details on these and other programs.

Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation - This company works with tons of stores to accept cell phones and rechargeable batteries (Ni-Cd, NiMH, lithium-ion, lithium-ion-polymer batteries and lead-acid batteries up to 2 lbs. per battery). They do not recycle primary batteries, rechargeable alkalines or lead-acid batteries weighing more than 2 lbs. each. To find more info on battery and cell phone recycling or to find a conveniently located recycling center near you, just go here.

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Teaching young kids how to power down the computer is a great way to help them understand the importance of saving energy. Now there is a fun and easy way to do that - the turnOFFtool. Created by a team of Stanford students for a school project, the turnOFFtool was inspired by discussions with parents who expressed how difficult it is for a young child to remember all the steps involved in shutting a computer down. The turnOFFtool, which is free and can be downloaded to your computer in a matter of minutes, bypasses all of the steps it usually takes for you to turn off your computer. Instead, all you have to do is click on a little moon icon which is always available on the screen (or minimized at the bottom of your screen). When you click on the moon, your computer will automatically shut down - or you can easily set it to sleep, if you prefer. Currently, the tool only runs on Windows, but future versions will work with Macs, too, and will allow users to add text or sound effects and select their own picture. For the record, though, we think the moon image with the zzzz’s couldn’t be cuter more appropriate for kids to get the “sleep” metaphor. Bravo, Stanford guys — we likey!

Find It Here: turnOFFtool

Eco Fact: According to the Harvard Green Campus Initiative, leaving a computer on all day for a year could result in more than 1500 pounds of CO2 being released into the atmosphere. To put that into context, it would take 100-500 trees to offset that amount of extra CO2!

As someone who went camping just last weekend, I am fully qualified to speak about the complete and total annoyingness of dead flashlight batteries. Kind of makes me wish I’d had a ShakeLight flashlight that requires NO batteries at all. Just shake it for thirty seconds and get twenty minutes of light from an LED lightbulb which will last something like 100,000 hours before it needs replacing. As a bonus, the ShakeLight sports an impressive five-year warranty, is waterproof (look at stuff underwater!) and is also, oddly enough, bulletproof — in case you find yourself in the dark with Dick Cheney :)

Find It Here: Greenfeet