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Health & Fitness

New Life for Old Gadgets

Were you one of the millions of people who got a new iPad, iPod, tablet or smart phone for Christmas? Now that you have a new device, what do you do with your old one?

First – do NOT throw it in the garbage. Parts in that gadget are harmful to the environment!

Sell your phone - Many places offer a rebate or will buy your device – Glyde.com,  cashforphones.com,  and gazelle.com are a few. You can also try selling it on eBay or Amazon. If you are doing any of these – be sure to wipe out the personal information by setting it back to the factory defaults!

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Donate your phone – Phones for Soldiers is one place. They use donated phones to give to soldiers, sailors and airmen to call home. My son was able to use one of these on Thanksgiving Day. He was still in boot camp and had no electronics with him. Verizon provided these phones for the day so that all of the recruits could call home! The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence is another worthy place. They accept many electronic gadgets. Some are given to women who need them, others are refurbished and sold to help support this groups mission.

Repurpose your Gadget – If you have an older iPad, tablet or smart phone, there are many apps that young children can use on them. It’s amazing how adept they are to this technology!

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iPads and Tablets can also be used an electronic picture frames – load you favorite photos and run a slide show from it.

Use your device as a dedicated mp3 player or alarm clock!

Recycle your device - If none of these seem feasible – then take your device to be recycled. Many towns have programs for this. In addition places like Best Buy, Staples, Apple and your phone carrier have recycling programs. You can also research places at the epa website.

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