As a new year begins and we store the Christmas decorations deep in the closets or the attic, we may begin to think about de-cluttering. See the kiosk at church for where to recycle various items or go to lanecountyor.gov/wastewise. Our laundry room at home has the pile of books going to Powell’s for our anniversary trip to Portland, the bag of items to take to the Assistance League thrift shop, the already-read magazines to pass on to our daughter, the glasses to take to Rainbow Optics, and the old laptop and iPad.

But what an opportune time for the electronics! The Electronic Recycling Competition for schools in the area began in January and goes until April. Based on the student enrollment, schools are placed in divisions to compete for a $500 grant and a Next Step Reuse Store gift certificate. Schools are divided into 4 divisions, small as 0-300 and large as over 700. Check the Wastewise website to see what schools enrolled in the completion and then you can take your electronics to NextStep to donate.

Eligible e-waste includes microwaves, TVs, printers, cords, cables, cell phones, computers, computer accessories (monitors, keyboards, mice, computer speakers, etc., whether in working condition or not), tablets, old or broken game consoles, remotes, and AV equipment (i.e., stereos, speakers, DVD players, etc.).

For those computers, laptops, iPads or phones, prepare them before you donate them:

1. Back up and sign out. You can start by backing up the content on your device to an external hard drive or cloud account, ensuring that all the information is also properly encrypted in case some of it isn’t erased (some products, including newer Macs, do this automatically). Then sign out of any accounts.

2. Remove storage. Then make sure you don’t have any removable storage units remaining in the device, such as USB ports, DVDs, SIM cards, or memory cards. As for laptops, you should also wipe and (if possible) physically remove a device’s hard drive.

3. Reset. If it’s available on your device, activate the “factory reset” setting to wipe your data and return it to the original settings for the new owner.

And take any batteries to Batteries Plus to recycle.

Do you have Personal Green Choices to share with all of us? I will collect them for future segments. Contact Marilyn Flick.