HP has expanded it’s Planet Partners Recycling program and added a buyback element to it. The new program dubbed the HP Consumer Buyback and Planet Partners Recycling Program, will buy back any brand of PC, monitor, printer, digital camera, or which still has some sort of value, rather than simply recycle the e-waste it receives. And it’s a lot. To date, HP has recycled close to one billion pounds of computer waste and hopes that the new buy back program will double that figure by 2010. Here’s how it works.

Users looking to cash in on their old gadgets go to the HP Quote site and choose the specs of the gadgets they want to unload from the pull down menus. Tell HP the quantity and it’s condition and receive a free quote. If specs are not available for your particular item, merely choose the “other” option and a form will popup asking for details on processor, hard drive, video card, RAM, etc. Then the quote will be generated based on those figures. It is important to note, however, that HP does not give the user the choice of cashing in and shipping it for a song. Users must accept either standard or premium shipping and that cost is deducted from the total offer HP is making for your tech.

When I tested it on an old IBM Celeron laptop, it quoted me $112 for it minus $23 shipping – making my final cash quote at almost $90. There’s also a trade in element which will allow users to apply the quote towards an HP product, or, if your technology has no value and is an HP product, they will still recycle it for you or point you to a worthy charity to donate it.

HP may not offer top dollar or give you what you think you can get on eBay, but given the state of the economy, every little bit helps. And it’s a pretty good option for selling stuff lying around and fighting eWaste at the same time.

Hat Tip – C’Net