I have a cast-iron tub in the garage that contains one old computer monitor dumped on our lawn by some jerk last spring, a broken clock radio, and a broken VCR. Inside, I have three plastic bins filled with functioning, but technically obsolete cameras, old cell phones, video recorders, old blackberries, at least five remotes, and lots and lots of cords. We even have the “ornamental” computer—it still looks good sitting in the kitchen, but hasn’t worked very well for months. We are a mountain of e-waste waiting to happen, especially with spring cleaning fever beginning to set in.

The temptation is to dump it all at the town recycling center–and declare victory for managing to find it during the 4 hours it’s open on a weekend. But that doesn’t seem very green—so what to do?

1. The first decision is to fix it or nix it. Greenerchoices.org is part of the Consumer Reports family and provides a useful “Fix it or Nix it” guide of whether you should bother fixing an item and a surprising number of ways to fix stuff. It also suggests repair and upgrade options. Alternatively, if you decide to nix the item, the site suggests where you can donate or sell the item or recycle it responsibly.

We are fixing the computer, one DVR, and one camera. Everything else is on the nix list.

2. OK–now for nix list. Should you sell, donate, or recycle?

To determine whether any of your electronics have value, you can visit gazelle.com or yourenew.com. They also offer e-recycling options for those products that don’t have any value. Thanks to those sites I have confirmed my stuff is totally worthless…at least to them. You may find some luck on eBay or Craigslist, but my personal opinion is the $2 I’m likely to clear isn’t worth the effort.

The next stop for anything working, or perhaps even something that isn’t, can either be the charitable route (earth911.com has a fabulous zip code based list of charities that accept electronics) or the neighborly route through freecycle.org. Freecycle has worked well for us for most items and the only downside is coordinating pick-up times.

And last, but not least–there is the recycling option. I love that BestBuy will take one item back a day, whether you bought it there or not, and the majority for free. Staples also has a pretty comprehensive program although only the Dell branded items are totally free. And then, if you are fortunate to have access to one, there is the town recycling center. Most aren’t open as often as Best Buy, but now that you’ve winnowed down the load, you can also add the broken chair, CFL bulbs, and old paint cans piling up in the garage to the trip.

What’s piling up in your home? Have you found any “impossible to recycle” electronics items? Good ideas for donating or reuse of electronics? Let us know…