I need to unload / donate or otherwise dispose of several old monitors, PC's and a few printers. Getting a tax deduction for the company is not that big a deal to me, but paying to get rid of them is. I don't want to pollute but don't want to have it cost me to get rid of them. Any suggestions on how to dispose of old equipment in an inexpensive way?

Churches, schools, non-profit organisations, ... many possibilities

FewMiles..

Around here the local solid waste authorities periodically accept used electronics for recycling. In one county it's one Saturday per month, in my county there's one weekend in the Spring. You might want to ask about that (if you believe that they will be responsibly recycled and not shipped off to India or somewhere like that).

Does your United Way have an info line? If you call them they will have a list of who is taking stuff.

Check your local Goodwill. Here in Pittsburgh, there's actually a Goodwill Computer Store. They can't take everything (I've specifically been told "no more monitors please!" here), but it's worth a shot.

I used HP's recycle program. Cost me a few bucks, but cheaper than schleping the stuff to the recycle place. HP Recycle

Have you tried running a google search?

Last time I checked, there are websites that will direct you to specific organizations in your area that will be happy to pick up these items and provide a receipt.

Check on your local craigslist as well.

Oh and don't forget to re-format those hard drives prior to disposal.

^ agree ^

ReThink Initiative sponsored by E-Bay and a bunch of others.

click on recycling (left side)
then click on Earth 911

you can search for a nearby donation center by zip code

This is great; thank you. United Way wants to know model #'s, age, processor, memory, hard drive, blah, blah, blah. Hello Mr. Gifthorse, open wide.

My laptop died on a recent trip. It was an older one (the new one always stays at home), and had crashed twice before, so I wasn't too surprised, nor too upset, since everything was backup up. Tech support guys at Best Buy worked on it for two hours but were unable to even get it to boot up, so RIP.
I could take it or send it to be recycled, but since I can't boot it up, I can't reformat the hard drive first. What should I do with the hard drive? Take it out and then just keep it forever? What's a solution that's good for the environment, protects against identity theft, and doesn't result in another totally useless old electronic item filling up my office closet? Is there a simple home remedy way to wipe out the hard disk? Guess I can't put it in the microwave ...

Maybe I should carry it around in soft luggage for a few more trips and let it get dropped onto baggage conveyor belts ... oh, I forgot, the fourth criterion is a solution that doesn't involve carrying a totally useless old electronic item around on another trip ...

cubbie

Take out the hard drive, open it up and remove the platter(s) - if more than one platter dispose of them separately, or if only one platter a propane torch might be handy. The circuit boards can still be recycled - and are what has most of the heavy metals.

I had a couple of old 40MB drives and this is what I've done with them. The platters were pretty thick and couldn't be bent up by hand.

Of course the likelihood of someone caring enough about the data on a random HDD to get it working again is slim...