Over the weekend I had the pleasure of purging my house of all the electronic waste, some that had been sitting around for YEARS unused. All in all, I was able to shed over 40 pounds of e-weight, aka e-waste!

What constituted my electronic waste? Everything from an old tv (so old you had to literally manually turn the dial to change the channel- remember U-channel???) to cell phones that had seen their glory days, and from dead printers to all those pesky wires, cables and chargers that have long lost their gadget-mate. Other items to consider: old keyboards and mice, small household appliances like that old juicer you KNOW you won’t actually use, fax machines, VCRs (what’s that?!) and speakers.

So, what’s the big deal? Well, I’ve been on a late spring cleaning mode and couldn’t just dump my e-waste in the trash can. In fact, many electronics items such as tvs and monitors are considered to contain hazardous materials with which have to be specially dealt. For more info visit www.ciwmb.ca.gov/electronics/.

Like cleaning out your closet of clothes you would never dare wear even in the dark, you can also clean out your outdated electronic items that were SO last season!

Visit www.eiae.org to find a e-recycling location near you. I took all my e-waste to the Solana Center for Environmental Innovation (www.solanacenter.org) last Saturday as they were holding a morning of free e-recycling to all neighbors who wanted to donate their vintage gadgets.

Yes, I did have to schlep everything over, but this is the perfect opportunity to ask that cute boy for some “assistance” and show off your green geek side!