Can you recycle old video games? Yes, you can recycle old video games, including cartridges, game controllers and game consoles as well.
These types of items are considered e-waste so although they are recyclable, your city may have a designated e-waste drop-off location near you.
You may also ask your neighborhood garbage truck driver for more information as well.
Scrap Value of Old Video Games
We’ve gotten a good number of emails from scrappers wondering what to do with old video games. Some even show up to the yard with barrels full of old video game cartridges.
We once had a guy and his friends show up driving vans filled with broken game controllers and non-working game consoles. It looked like some kind of weird movie scene.
Unfortunately most scrap yards will not accept video game cartridges, controllers and consoles because the majority of the items content is made of plastic.
All is not lost, you can take the game cartridges, controllers and consoles apart and still scrap the metals within them.
What To Do With Old Video Games
You’ll need common tools along with a Dremel, pry tool and a security bit screwdriver set.
The most valuable things inside of video game controllers, consoles and cartridges that you can quickly access are the gold fingers and pins on the motherboard.
The heatsinks within old video game consoles are made of copper or aluminum. The batteries in some of the old video game cartridges can be recycled. There are many other small parts including the servo motors within today’s video game controllers that can also be brought to any scrap yard.
If you like recycling e-waste and plan to continue at it, give the video a watch below.
The video is about removing the gold fingers on electronic motherboards. I’m sure that you could easily scrap up 2.25 pounds of gold fingers from motherboards for an easy $300. Give this video a watch; you’ll be glad you did.
Hopefully you learned a lot from that video. There aren’t that many scrappers into e-waste so maybe this opens some new doors for you.
Be sure to dispose of the plastic from the old game cartridges, controllers and consoles responsibly. The plastic is likely Number 7 plastic and should not be thrown in with regular garbage or put into recycling containers.
These types of plastics need to be brought to community recycling yards owned by your city. Your e-waste that you do not scrap can also be dropped off at these yards too.
You can recycle old video games, it just takes a little more effort. Now that you know what to do with old video games, old game controllers, consoles and other e-waste motherboards keep an eye out for these items.
If you thought that you would never see or own a real bar of gold that can change. Once you have enough gold to sell, be sure the check current gold prices. The price of gold fluctuates just like other scrap metal prices. You are obviously better off selling your gold when the price of gold is high even if you have to wait a bit.