Montgomery County residents and businesses may recycle electronics by bringing these items to the Shady Grove Processing Facility and Transfer Station. Our electronics drop-off is open daily, and is located in the Recycling Area of the Transfer Station site.
Residents are responsible for the off-loading of material from their vehicles.
What items are accepted as electronics?
Accepted items include
- Activity/Fitness trackers (wristbands or chips)
- Air Fryers
- Air Purifiers
- Alarm clocks
- Answering Machines
- Audio equipment
- Audio tapes
- Bug Zappers
- Cable/satellite boxes and devices
- Cables (e.g., audio cables, computer cables, networking cables, power cables)
- Calculators
- Cassette tapes
- Chips and cards
- Circuit boards
- Clocks
- Computers and related items
- Computer disks
- Computer monitors (CRTs and flat screen)
- Computer mice and keyboards
- CPUs
- Docking stations
- Flash drives
- Floppy disks
- Hard drives
- Laptops
- Mainframes
- Modems
- Network hubs
- Peripherals
- Servers
- Tablets
- Terminals
- Thumb drives
- Copiers
- Cords and communication wires (e.g., copper wire, phone wire, coaxial cable and computer wire)
- Dehumidifiers
- Diagnostic/Sensing/Control equipment
- Digital cameras and memory cards
- Digital home thermostats
- Drones
- Small handheld electric tools
- Electronic games and toys
- Electronic reading devices
- Electronic power generators (like solar panel electronic accessories & light fixtures)
- Electronic smartwatches
- Fax machines
- Flashlights (no bulbs)
- GPS devices
- Headphones & wireless technology (such as Bluetooth)
- Holiday string lights
- Home security systems
- Music playing devices
- Cassette players
- CD Players
- Record players
- Recorders
- MP3 players
- Portable Chargers
- Power Supplies
- Printer Ink (Empty)
- Printers and printer drums
- Projectors
- Radar detectors
- Radios
- Remote controls
- Room Heaters
- Scanners
- Stereos
- Solar light fixtures
- Switching boxes
- Telephones
- Cell phone
- Landline
- Televisions
- Toner cartridges (Empty)
- Typewriters
- Small handheld vacuum cleaners
- Surveillance cameras
- Vacuum Cleaners
- VCR/DVR/DVD or Blu-ray players, discs, and CDs (compact discs)
- VHS tapes
- Video cameras
- Video game consoles and controllers
All collected items are recycled.
Alternate Recycling Programs
Locate alternate recycling programs.
May I deliver electronic items with a truck?
Yes, you may use a truck you own, borrow, or rent to deliver electronic items to us.
What happens to my computer and data after recycling drop-off?
The electronics you bring to us may go to
- our U.S.-based electronics recycling contractor, or
- local and international groups that are organized as non-profit organizations under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
The County's recycling contractor and non-profit partners may destroy via disassembly or refurbish computers for reuse. The contractor also may recover metals and plastic components from the computers and sell them.
The County requires its contractor and non-profit partners to erase data from equipment that will be reused and to destroy remaining memory devices.
While we take reasonable measures to work with reputable companies and organizations, we recommend that you protect against unauthorized use of personal information. Use a data-wiping tool to erase personal data before dropping electronics off for recycling. For Apple products, it is recommended to remove Apple IDs and a factory reset be done on the device.
Examples of “personal information” include
- Internet browser's cache, cookies, history
- email contacts and messages
- documents
- recycle bin or trash folder items
- passwords to cloud services
- all nontransferable software
You can find data-wiping tools online at no cost.
Where may I donate working computers and other electronic items?
A resource listing of several organizations (PDF) for reuse opportunities.
Check the Montgomery County Volunteer Center's list of local donation opportunities, which includes computers.
Local computer reuse organizations also accept donations of computers and related items.
I can't bring my electronics to the Transfer Station or Community-Based Drop-off Events. What other eCycling options do I have?
A variety of organizations offer trade-in, take back, or drop-off programs. Some of them provide this service at no cost to you, some charge you a fee, and others may offer credit toward the purchase of new equipment.
Community-based options
