If It Has a Cord or a Battery: A Practical E-Waste Guide for Northern Michigan

Here is the easiest rule in recycling: if it has a cord or a battery, BARC can recycle it. That one sentence covers a surprising amount of what piles up in Northern Michigan junk drawers, garages and offices. It also leaves a few exceptions that catch people out, and a free program for Leelanau County residents that too many people hear about only after they have paid someone else to haul their old electronics away. This guide sorts the pile before you load the car.

What counts as electronic waste

BARC's electronics recycling service takes anything with a battery or a cord, in partnership with eRecycle TC, a HIPAA-certified recycler. In practice that means:

• Computers, laptops, towers and tablets
• Printers, scanners, copiers and plotters
• Keyboards, mice, speakers and radios
• Phones
• Cords and wire of every kind
• Small appliances such as vacuums, microwaves, toasters and hair dryers
• Batteries, from household cells to car batteries
• TVs and monitors, including old tube sets

Drop-off works at both facilities, 466 US-31 South in Traverse City and 14407 Industrial Dr. in Kaleva, where electronic waste is processed and shipped out for recycling. BARC also accepts fluorescent bulbs and tubes and ink cartridges, so a tidy-up of the office supply closet can ride along with the computers.

What does not count, and where it goes instead

The big exception is anything that cools. Refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners are not e-waste, even though they plug in. They contain freon, which has to be removed by a certified facility, so BARC handles them through a separate refrigerator recycling service with its own pricing: small freon units like mini fridges, dehumidifiers and A/C units are $65, standard refrigerators and freezers are $100, and commercial units are $150.

Two other things look like electronics and are not. Household hazardous waste is one, and Leelanau's e-waste days send people to the county's own household hazardous waste days for it. Mattresses are the other. They have their own recycling service and their own pricing, and they do not belong in the electronics line. When in doubt, call (231) 632-2272 before you drive. BARC's line on this is simple: make it your first call, and if it cannot recycle something, it will do its best to find someone who can.

Leelanau County E-Waste Days, free for Leelanau residents

If you live in Leelanau County, you have a better option than paying by the pound. BARC runs Leelanau County Electronic Waste Days, a recurring program paid for by the county's PA-69 tax, so recycling is free to Leelanau residents. Registration is required, so sign up before you show up. The 2026 fall schedule moved through four communities: Glen Lake School near Maple City, the Leelanau Government Center in Suttons Bay, the Leelanau Sands Casino lot in Peshawbestown, and Cherry Bend Community Park in Elmwood Township.

The accepted list is generous: TVs and monitors, laptops, towers and tablets, radios, phones, small appliances, printers and scanners, wire, speakers, keyboards and mice, hair dryers, batteries, small refrigerators, A/C units and dehumidifiers, and electric weed whips and mowers. That means small freon units can ride along at these events. Not accepted: household hazardous waste, large refrigerators, mattresses and light bulbs. The dates change from year to year, so check the Leelanau County electronic waste days page for the current schedule rather than trusting last year's flyer.

Pricing for everyone else

Outside Leelanau's free days, electronics are priced on the 2026-27 sheet. Tower, desktop and laptop computers are $0.20 per pound, miscellaneous wires are $0.40 per pound, and miscellaneous electronic waste is $0.75 per pound. Many items carry a flat price instead:

• Household appliances such as vacuums, microwaves and toasters: $20
• Washers, dryers, stoves and dishwashers: $40
• Printers: $20
• Commercial printers, plotters and copiers: $100
• LCD flat-screen computer monitor: $20
• CRT computer monitor: $30
• Single CFL bulb: $5
• Tube lights, 4 to 8 feet: $5 to $7
• All batteries: $3
• Lead acid battery (car, boat, RV): $5

Pickup is available at a $100 fee within a 35 mile radius of both facilities, added to the sheet prices. For a couple of boxes, dropping them off makes more sense. For an office clean-out, pickup or a larger recycling event is worth a call. Businesses with steady volume can ask about a bulk electronics bin on the recycling for business page.

Before you hand anything over

A few habits make any e-waste run easier, wherever you take it. Back up what you want to keep, then sign out of your accounts and reset phones and tablets to factory settings. Pull the hard drive from an old computer if you are comfortable doing it, or at least wipe it. Keep loose batteries in their own bag, and bundle loose cords together so they do not turn into one knot in the trunk.

BARC's partner eRecycle TC is HIPAA-certified, which matters to offices that handle patient or client records, but wiping your own drives first is still the sensible habit. Put the cords, the batteries and the boxes of gadgets in one trip, and you can clear a closet in a morning. The electronics recycling page has the full list of what BARC takes.