CINCINNATI, Ohio — You may be gifted a new electronic this year for the holidays.

But how do you dispose of your old electronics properly? 

• Electronics shouldn’t be thrown in the trash or curbside recycling bin
• Cleanlites Recycling facility in Cincinnati is one of many drop off sites for e-waste in the area
• They want to reuse and recycle every aspect of the electronic —especially metal, which is very valuable in the recycling industry and difficult to mine

At Cleanlites Recycling in Cincinnati, TV after TV is thrown on a conveyer belt to get shredded.

The process continues all day for all types of electronics.

The facility is one of the many drop off sites for e-waste in the area.

That’s because electronics shouldn’t be thrown in the trash or even in your curbside recycling bin.

“You can have Mercury that can go into the landfill which then contaminates your water," Kyle Amann, the regional manager at Cleanlites Recycling said. "There’s lithium batteries that can go into landfills which can cause fires.” 

Cleanlites takes apart all of the electronics in order to safely recycle each component.

“Dolores here is taking apart these speakers that have lithium ion battery in it and we actually pull the batteries out of them, tape the batteries up. and send them to a battery recycler," Amann said "The other material is thrown into a bin and we shred that up to pull the plastics and the circuit boards out of it.”

That’s because they want to reuse and recycle every aspect of the electronic — especially any metal — which is very valuable in the recycling industry and is difficult to mine.

“We’re breaking it down to the fine items, as well as the circuit boards, plastics, batteries," said Amann. "We take apart pretty much everything that we need to.”

And it’s not just the TVs and computers that can be brought in.

“USB charger cords, the whole nine yards," Amann said.

But before bringing in any item to recycle, it’s important to wipe any memory off of it to protect your information. Or Cleanlites can do it for you.

“There could be confidential stuff on there," Amann said. "Bank information, whatever the customer saves into their computer.”

There are dozens of electronic waste drop off sites all around the greater Cincinnati area, including Staples and Best Buy.

Some items are free to drop off, and some require a fee.

Call your drop off center beforehand to find out more.

You can find your drop off location here.