Take back programs have long been popular in Europe, where many countries mandate that you pay a small fee when you buy an electronic product and then that money is used to recycle the product when you want to get rid of it. To encourage consumers to recycle and dispose of electronic devices in an environmentally sound manner, Sony has established a national recycling program for consumer electronics. The Sony Take Back Recycling Program allows consumers to recycle all Sony-branded products for no fee at 75 Waste Management (WM) Recycle America eCycling drop-off centers throughout the U.S. The program, which begins on Sept. 15, was developed in collaboration with WM Recycle America, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Waste Management, Inc. The program also allows consumers to recycle other manufacturers’ consumer electronics products at market prices, and may include a recycling fee for some types of materials.

This is the first national recycling initiative in the U.S. to involve both a major electronics manufacturer and a national waste management company. Don’t be fooled though, Dell and Apple have similar programs that in some ways go beyond what Sony is doing. But it is good to see large retailers competing for who can recycle the best. E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in America. The really nasty thing is computers and other electronic waste has some of the foulest cancer causing heavy metal containing crap you could ever wish to keep out of the environment. Responsible e-recycling is vital to our continued health and well being.

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