The timing of a free recycling program offered by Best Buy Co. Inc., could not have been any better for Ellicott City resident Sori Meredith.

Meredith, who had just replaced her old desktop computer with a new laptop and monitor, was looking for a place to recycle her old machine last week.

"When I read (about the program) I said 'Wow, this is great'," Meredith said.

Her computer would join the roughly 40 other printers, monitors and small televisions on a pile of electronics in a back warehouse in the Columbia Best Buy, located at the Gateway Overlook Shopping Center at the corner of routes 175 and 108.

The store began its free recycling program June 1 as one of 117 stores in the Baltimore, San Francisco and Minnesota areas where Best Buy is testing its new free recycling service.

The store collects the recyclable materials, packages them in a box and sends them to a local recycling facility in the area, said Anthony Rivas, an operations manager at the Columbia store.

"We were selected because we were one of the busiest stores, Rivas said June 6.

Best Buy's corporate headquarters in Minneapolis also selected stores in Glen Burnie, Owings Mills, Towson, Laurel and Arundel Mills to participate in the free recycling program, he said.

The program does not accept televisions with screens larger than 32 inches, console televisions, air conditioners, microwaves or appliances, according to a Best Buy news release. Customers can use an appliance haul-away service for those items.

Each customer can submit two items a day for recycling.

After an undetermined period of time, the company will evaluate the success of the test program and determine whether to introduce the service at other stores across the country, the company news release said.

Rivas claims the program is popular.

"I was surprised to see the reaction because we already did some recycling," he said.

Best Buy stores also have existing programs to recycle ink cartridges, rechargeable batteries, cell phones, CDs, DVDs and personal digital assistants/smart phones. They will remove old or obsolete appliances free of charge when they deliver and install a new appliance. They also offer to pick up an unwanted appliance for a $100 fee.

They purchase used electronics through a trade-in program at the Web site www.bestbuytradein.com.

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