Andrew Heinzman
Cyber Acoustics is one of the most popular headphone suppliers for schools and businesses. But what happens when all those headphones start to wear out? As part of its new push toward sustainability, Cyber Acoustics is opening a Headset Recycling Program to help people recycle large quantities of wired headphones for free—you don’t even have to pay for the shipping label.
Headphones sent to Cyber Acoustics are sorted and sent to recycling centers, where metals are stripped and plastics are ground into reusable dust. According to Cyber Acoustics, one ton of recycled plastics can save 16 barrels of oil, 5774 KWh of energy, plus 810 cubic feet of landfill space.
This recycling program isn’t exclusive to schools or businesses, though Cyber Acoustics requires that you send in a minimum of 10 wired headphones at a time (there’s no maximum, so feel free to send in an outrageous number of headphones). Wireless headphones or products with built-in batteries are not accepted. You also need to be in the United States to participate in this program, as Cyber Acoustics covers the shipping. You can also send headphones of any brand—they don’t have to be Cyber Acoustics for this program.
Keep in mind that wired headphones are often easy to repair. You can replace aging earcups to immediately improve comfort and sound quality, or replace a broken headphone cable with some basic soldering techniques (it’s just three wires). If you don’t have 10+ pairs of headphones to send to Cyber Acoustics, I suggest taking your headphones to Best Buy, which accepts three devices for recycling at a time.
Source: Cyber Acoustics
