Recycle your old Raspberry Pi boards with OKdo
Ever wondered what to do with Raspberry Pi boards you haven’t used in a while? Do you tend to upgrade your projects to newer models, leaving previous ones languishing at the back of a drawer? There are a lot of venerable Raspberry Pis out there doing useful stuff just as well as ever, and we take great care to make sure new versions of Raspberry Pi OS continue to run on these models, but we’re realists: we understand that ending up with older boards lying around doing nothing is a thing. Rather than leave them to gather dust, you now have a sustainable way to get your unused tech back in the hands of makers who’ll put it to work.
OKdo has partnered with Sony to launch the first official Raspberry Pi recycling initiative. OKdo Renew gives you rewards in return for your preloved boards.
Which boards can I recycle?
If you have any of these boards sitting around unused, you can recycle them:
- Raspberry Pi 3 Model B
- Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+
- Raspberry Pi 4
Our Raspberry Pi boards are manufactured at the Sony Technology Centre in Wales, and that’s where OKdo returns all the hardware you donate. When it gets there, it’ll be tested, reconditioned, and repackaged, ready to be sold to its new home. OKdo will be offering the refurbished boards at a lower price than new boards, and they all come with a twelve-month warranty.
How do I send my preloved Raspberry Pi boards to Sony?
If you have one of the boards listed above and it’s still in working order, you can register to renew your Raspberry Pi. Print the prepaid label so you can return you board for free! Then package up your board to avoid damage, being careful not to exceed the dimensions listed here.
Make sure you remove your memory card before posting your board. Sony can’t return them and we don’t want you to lose any important stuff you’ve got stored.
What’s my reward?
In return for recycling your board, you will get a £10 voucher to use towards your next OKdo purchase. You could upgrade to a faster board than the one you recycled, or pick up a new accessory.
22 comments
Misel
The site seems to accept only Pi3b and newer?
What about the other Pre-Pi3 loved boards? Are their any plans for those, too?
Giles Read
An innovative way to ameliorate the worldwide chip shortage – well done.
Rick
Nice that this is being done. I know older boards arent as in demand but it’d be great if those could be recycled too (even if it meant no credit, recycling them is still better than them going to landfill).
Am I right in thinking some older pi’s have the same SOC as the Zero? If so those being refurbed and sold at the same cost as a Zero would solve some of the current supply issues for some people who aren’t bothered about form factor.
andrum99
Pi Zero has the same SoC as Pi 1.
For Pi 2 they went to a different SoC with different packaging so not compatible – same with Pi 3, 4.
Not a great deal of margin to play with on the Zero given it sells for only $5/ $10 so maybe not worth their while doing that.
W. H. Heydt
And what’s more…the Pi2Bv1.2 uses the same SoC as the Pi3B, so it depends on which Pi2B one is talking about.
STrRedWolf
Is this UK only? Some of us have RPi 2’s and 1’s that are just sitting there, unused and unloved. Short of donating them to a maker space, recycling them would be best.
Colin
I have all my Pi boards in use except the version 1 boards and agree with others above why not recycle all old boards
Anders
It’s interesting, in the past when I’ve offered to give away older Pi computers I’ve found it hard to find anyone to take them.
Cla
Hi, I’m looking for old pi, if you still have some around.
Thanks
jack burton
I must have at least 2 to send . I recyled on my own 4 yrs ago ,on facebook a young man from Bangladesh messaged me/pi cost as much as a weeks pay for his dad,so i mailed him a kit i made up with a pi3,cost me $45.00 cdn shipping ,i lost his contact ,so i dont know how he made out learning with the Pi ;)
Helgi
It’s a bit unclear if sending 2 boards (or more) will result in a £20 voucher… Can you confirm that 10x 3B would result in a £100 voucher?
fanoush
As per FAQ on the bottom of https://www.okdo.com/raspberry-pi-renew/ the answer is “No”, Only single £10 voucher for multiple boards if I understand it correctly.
James
The rates given by this are pretty bad. You would be better off selling it on a site like gumtree or facebook.
Colin Russell-Conway
What about broken boards. I’ve a pi3B that has issues and reboots about 2-3 mins and a Pi2B where the hdmi doesn’t work. Neither took any damage, they just stopped working after a year. Can they be recycled (I think they’re PRC boards)
Miles Raymond
This just seems like a way to resell existing unused boards to recoup costs of ‘recycling’ since the older models are excluded. I’d rather see them recycle 1b chips into 0 boards and the usb/ethernet/hdmi jacks into newer 3b boards. At least that would be something that the average tinkerer wouldn’t be able to do. I can test and resell my old boards myself.
Richard collins
Pi1 and Pi2 boards are ideal for use as a pi-hole. If you have one doing nothing and don’t yet have a pi-hole. Then you have next weekends project sorted. ;)
Johan
I have a Pi4 that won’t start. Can you do something good with that? Recycle the components or somethings? :)
Paul
Good to see Raspberry Pi Foundation starting it’s sustainability journey. Look forward to seeing more initiatives in the future.
MW
Considering that 3B / 3B+ go for £30+ on eBay UK, £10 is measly.
Considering the shortage of the Zero, it would be better to find some way to put the Original BCM2835 RPis back to work, even if RPT had to undertake at no profit.
Raspberry Paul
OKDos wesbite talks about “Re-using” the raspberry pi’s. This article talks about “recycling” the pi’s.
There is a major difference. OKDo are simply reselling any pi’s sent in. They’re not stripping them for parts and building new pi’s out of them, nor are they repairing them.
That’s why they’re not accepting Pi 1 and 2’s.
Re-Use / Recycle are not the same terms
William M Rhodenhiser
is it practical to ship ones in the US?
If so would gift cards in US dollars be offered?
Raspberry Pi Staff Liz Upton
I can’t speak on behalf of OKdo, but my suspicion is that this really isn’t practical; it’s likely that the miles your Pi will have to travel will negate any benefit they might see from repurposing it.