Printer Disposal

How do you dispose of an old photo printer? I have a Pixma Pro9000 that no longer functions with the latest Apple OS, OSX Catalina. It is now a 40Lb. paperweight. Do I toss in the trash, donate to Goodwill, or simply use it as a flower vase? Being over ten years old I'm not sure if it has value to anyone else.

Kirby wrote in post #19035587
How do you dispose of an old photo printer? I have a Pixma Pro9000 that no longer functions with the latest Apple OS, OSX Catalina. It is now a 40Lb. paperweight. Do I toss in the trash, donate to Goodwill, or simply use it as a flower vase? Being over ten years old I'm not sure if it has value to anyone else.

Best Buy accepts old printers as part of their recycling program. The downside, at least at present, the recycling program is temporarily shut down due to the CoVid-19 virus.

There are other places in the US(and presumably, worldwide)
which are recycling intakes for electronics. These have been setup
largely due to toxic and environmentally-damaging metals commonly
used in electronic assemblies. Some facilities or their receiving
partners will do some disassembly to separate plastics and metals
and electronics, for recycling and/or responsible disposal.

On the other hand, there may be some willing buyers at the Printer Knowledge forums.
Some of those folks' attitudes towards maintaining and repairing printers
approaches a complete lifestyle, and they love the PRO-9XXX series.

Thanks John & SkedAddled. Those are great suggestions.

You may also be able to find ways to keep that beefy printer in service
by asking at the forum I mentioned. Those Pro-9000's are robust machines,
and people have found some workarounds for keeping older printers
working fine with newer Operating Systems.

Our local landfill has a drive up building that accepts electronics. Also paint and all that other stuff. I store stuff in the garage and go for a run a few times a year.

Update to my printer problem. I still have my old Pro 9000. After staring at it one day a solution came to mind. A process I had never before considered is the PictBridge function built into the printer. It bypasses the operating system. It's a little cumbersome but it works. Now, all I do is optimize the image in Photoshop or Lightroom, export to a card, put the card in a PictBridge compatible camera, plug the camera into the printer, set the parameters and Voila!!! A print.LOL
Thanks to all for your recommendations.

For other folks stuck with broken printers...the normal garbage pickup company for your residence have, in some cases, scheduled pickup of things like printers (or other electronics) if you call them in advance.

Here in Phoenix - and I suspect most cities - options are pretty limited. I can drive 50 miles during peak COVID to a drop off site that is only open 2 days a week, or toss it in the trash bin.