Do you have a pile of old cellphones on your desk? Or maybe an old laptop? Well, now is the time to recycle or donate them properly. Engadget makes this easy by compiling a list of every large manufacturer and their recycling policies and donation programs.

It is extremely important to recycle old electronics properly because if they go into your trashcan, and subsequently to a landfill, we will not be able to reuse the precious metals, copper, and plastics that took so much energy to mine and manufacture in the first place. Additionally, toxic chemicals like lead and mercury can leach out of landfills into our groundwater from old televisions and other electronics. According to the EPA’s “Plug into e-cycling guide”,

Recycling one million cell phones saves enough energy to power more than 185 US households with electricity for a year!

Canon, Apple, Dell, Verizon, and Dyson, just to name a few, offer FREE recycling of cell phones, computers, iPods, cameras, and vacuums. There are mail-in options (many companies will email you a shipping label to print out) or you can drop off your electronics at several stores!

:: Engadget, EPA