Getting rid of old equipment such as a lawnmower can be tough. There are organizations that help recycle these items. But most of them charge fees to do so.
Lowes is a home improvement company that might take your lawnmower off your hands. However, they have conditions.
Read this if you’ve been asking: will Lowes take my old lawnmower?
Lowes will accept your lawnmower only if it is 30-days old or less. The mower must also be in its original package. Lowes gives you a full refund for this if their conditions are met. Since they are a home improvement business, they either resell or send the equipment back to the manufacturer.
You would not be able to get rid of your old lawnmower through Lowes. But there are other ways to get the mower off your hands.
Table of Contents
How to dispose of your old lawnmower
- Gift it to the neighbor
- Sell it on Craigslist, eBay, LetGo, or an appropriate social media site
- Sell it as scrap to a junkyard
- Give it away to a friend or family
- Donate it to charity
- Send it to your local recycle shop
How to sell your old lawnmower as scrap
If you take the mower in one piece to the junkyard, you might not get much as they would only pay you the price for aluminum breakage. That is you will be paid for dirty aluminum, contaminated with steel. You will get more value if you take the mower apart as the scrap company would not have to do the disassembling and cleaning.
What you will need:
- Screwdrivers
- Wrench sets
- Goggles
- Thick gloves
Follow these steps to sell your mower as scrap metal:
- Empty the gas tank
The easiest way to remove the fuel from your mower is to look for that tiny fuel pipe that connects the tank to the carburetor. Remove the carburetor end of the pipe and allow the fuel to flow into a container.
If the mower is not built that way, use a plastic hose and a jerrican to get the fuel out. Put one end of the hose inside the fuel tank, and the other, in the jerrican. Shake the tank and the fuel will flow into the jerrican.
- Remove the handles
Look for the pins, bolts, or screws holding the handle and remove them. Some mowers come with two sets of pins holding the handle to the deck. One set is easier to remove with bare hands than the other.
You might need a hammer to remove the other one and this might break the aluminum deck. Though it will make it easier to remove the axel later.
- Detach the blades
Tilt the mower to the sides with the carburetor facing up. Unscrew the bolt or bolts in the middle.
This bolt holds the blades in place. So once you unscrew it, you can take out the blades from beneath.
You would need a ramp to raise it if it’s a riding mower, seeing that they’re too heavy to tilt.
- Clean the components
Use a knife or a stiff wire brush to clean off any debris that accumulated on the mower deck.
- Remove the tires
Undo the bolts holding the tires and pull them off the equipment. Some lawnmower tire hubs are made of metal. If yours is, you can cut out the tires.
But first, let the air out. Make sure your goggles are on before you do this. Add the hubs to your metal scraps and separate the plastic into a different pile.
- Remove the cables and the handle
Unbolt the handle from the deck and remove the cables that connect it to the engine. The handle is part of the metal pile, and the wires should be separated from it. If there are other nonmetal parts on the handle, detach them and separate them.
- Detach the engine
Detach the engine and all other metal parts surrounding it, including the hood. There may be up to five bolts holding the engine in place.
Remove all of them. Separate the metal from nonmetal.
- Remove all other nonmetal parts
Remove the rest of the nonmetal parts. If you can decouple large metal pieces to make them smaller, do so.
For instance, if it is a riding mower. Its seat would be made of metal with foam covering.
Remove the foam to expose the metal and add it to the pile.
With this, you have completed the disassembling of the lawnmower. At this point, you need to properly separate the rubber and nonmetal items from the pile.
Send this to your local recycling center. The metal would then be sold at a reasonable price in the junkyard.
If you are not looking to get money from your old lawnmower, it might be less stressful to dispose of it. One easy way is to donate it to charity.
Steps to donating old lawnmowers to charity or a non-profit organization.
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Call the charity centers or non-profit organizations for inquiries
Some of these centers don’t accept a piece of equipment like the mower. Call a few to find out which of them does. Find out their conditions for accepting old lawnmowers.
For example, not all of them who accept would offer to pick up service. You might have to arrange to have the equipment transported to them.
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Arrange inspection
The charity or nonprofit center would want to know the condition of the lawnmower. The mower would be inspected before they take it off you.
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Agree on pick up or delivery of the mower
If the organization has a pick up service, that’s less hassle for you. If not, you might have to make arrangements to have it transported to them.
Transporting it with a trailer is ideal for this kind of move. If you have a truck, you can load the mower onto it and have it taken to them.
Using a recycling service to dispose of your old lawnmower.
Another way to dispose of the mower is to contact your local recycling center. There might be several recycling organizations around you.
Not all of them might be able to recycle a mower. By asking, calling and enquiring on this, you can find out how to go about it and the conditions of recycling with them.
You might also have to arrange to have the equipment taken to the center. A professional junk removal company would be ideal for this kind of move.
Some of these organizations charge fees for their services. These are things to think about when considering this option.
Ways to dispose of old lawnmower summary
- Give it out as a gift to your friend or relative
- Give it to a charity or non-profit organization if it is still in working condition.
- Sell the petrol or push mower as scrap. But first drain the fuel and dispose of it properly or give it out. Then decouple its part to separate the metal and get good scrap value for it.
- Contact your local recycle center to dispose of your old electric mower. This might cost you some fees, but the mower will be taken off your hands.
- Contact a junk removal company. This is equivalent to throwing the mower away. But it is safer for the environment since the junk removal company would know how to dispose of it properly. They would be happy to take it off your hands, saving you time and effort. You won’t get paid though.
There are more than a few ways to dispose of your old lawnmower, Lowes is not one of them.
Though we agree, it can be challenging and exhausting to get rid of old equipment such as this one. Whichever way you decide to do it, be environmentally conscious and responsible.
The suggestions above are all safe for the environment. You only need to consider factors such as time, energy, and budget to choose the option most favorable to you.
