We’ve all been there: an expensive item that’s only a few months old suddenly ceases to function. The retailer can’t help, and the manufacturer is deaf to your issues. You’re stuck with a broken gadget and nowhere to turn.

Unfortunately for Xbox 360 owners, failure seems to be more of the norm than the exception. According to a recent survey by Game Informer the Xbox 360 fails an astounding 54.2 percent of the time, compared to only 10.6% for the PS3 and 6.8% for the Wii.

Although the results may be a bit skewed (the study also showed that Xbox owners use their devices far more than PS3 and Wii owners) the numbers are still startling. Just over 30 million Xbox 360s have been sold since the product’s launch in 2005. With each console weighing in at a hefty 16 lbs (including all peripherals) consumers have been left with a whopping 259,200,000 lbs of broken Xboxes.

Our question is: what’s happening to all the broken consoles? Some are repaired and reused. Unfortunately, however, many are ending up in the trash. Thankfully, this doesn’t have to be the case! YouRenew.com has recycled dozens of Xboxes (although most we receive are still working!), and there are plenty of other options. For a local electronics recycling option, you can check out Earth911 to find a responsible, local option.